Little Lord Tenchi
by Daferge
Summary: In the 1890s, a 15 year old American male suddenly becomes the heir to an old English title... He and his family then move to the old English family manor that is full of females... Will he be able to learn about this new world?... Will he survive what is to come?... FINALLY a New Chapter... PLEASE REVIEW...
1. Chapter 1

Little Lord Tenchi...

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Chapter - 01... It begins...**

 **( London, 1895... )**

Tenchi Masaki, tall, slim with short black hair, tried to not look too excited in his new outfit...

The 15 year old boy stood at the steamer's metal railings looking at the people on the pier below, along with all the other passengers on deck...

Unlike the older sailing ship, the deck of the steamer was higher above the water, allowed them a much better view...

But to Tenchi this pier looked a lot like the pier that they had left behind them less than a week before...

The noise of the horses, the wagons, the crowd and then there was the smell...

It was hard to believe they had just crossed a wide ocean and were now in a whole new country...

He had to smile at that thought, **NEW**...

He had just left America, which was just a little over a hundred years old, to come to the home of the British Empire, London, which was countless hundreds of years old...

He'd imagined it being better, cleaner, but it looked just like the Boston docks as they were leaving...

So much for his nanny's many stories...

And THIS was where he was to start a whole new life...

He was tempted to stay on board and take the steamer back to Boston...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

A hand came to rest on his left shoulder and he looked back, to find his older sister standing there, smiling at him...

As a hand found his right shoulder, he turned the other way and there was his nanny, also smiling...

" **Where we're headed it's a lot nicer...** "

She'd kept saying that from the very beginning, but she had never said why she believed that...

But he knew that like his sister and father, he trusted her and believed her...

He wasn't surprised to see his older cousin was also standing there, trying to see every thing, as this was her 1st time out of Boston...

They were all wearing their best traveling clothes, to look their best...

He wasn't surprised that his father wasn't there, he had mentioned he was going to check on their luggage as they were getting ready to come up on deck...

But he had three of the most wonderful females in the world here with him, to support his new life...

He only wished there'd been a fourth, his mother...

A soft voice, his sister's, whispered in his ear...

" **Don't worry... She's here with you, just as she always has been...** "

He reached up and put his hand on hers and smiled...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Several weeks earlier... )**

He'd been playing with his good friend, Amagasaki, when his older sister, Tennyo, had found him...

He never could figure out how she seem to always know where he was...

But their father, Nobuyuki, had sent for him...

However, for some reason, he HAD to clean up before presenting himself...

Both she and their nanny, Minaho had helped him, even thou he said he didn't need it...

They did have to help him with the new clothes they had him put on...

Had they been males, he'd have actually put up a fight, he didn't like them, they were too tight...

Had he know earlier, he'd have taken his chances on the street in his long johns...

But he lost his chance to run as soon as his older cousin, Mayuka joined the 'get Tenchi ready' party...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Feeling as if the whole outfit had been over starched, he was guided into the family living room to see his father...

It had been Tennyo who had commented about cooking the egg on his forehead due to how red it was...

With every thing else, it seem that his father wasn't alone, preventing him from making any comments about the new outfit...

Their guest was an elderly gentleman who appeared to be as uncomfortable as Tenchi...

For some reason both men stood when Tenchi entered the room and both seem nervous?...

It was his father who had spoken...

" **Tenchi... This is lord Manchester, a lawyer who has come all the way from London, England to talk to you...** "

He gestured to the third chair before the other two...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Once they were all seated, their guest spoke...

" **Tenchi... I understand you have little or no knowledge of your late mother's family?...** "

Tenchi thought for a moment before replying...

" **No, sir... She never spoke of them and any mention of them seem to make her sad...** "

The lawyer nodded his head...

" **Ahh... I see...** "

He looked at Tenchi's father...

" **However... You did know that she was born and raise in England!...** "

Tenchi smiled and pointed to a picture, an old style daguerreotype, of a small cottage with trees...

" **She said that that was the cottage she was born in...** "

Examining the picture, the lawyer hid a smile...

 _ **True - to a point...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Seeing he wasn't going to get any help from the father, the lawyer continued...

" **It seems some things can be misleading...** "

He looked at the picture of the cottage again...

" **Although she was indeed born in that cottage, she was raised elsewhere...** "

He removed an image from the small leather case on his lap and showed it to Tenchi...

It was a small black and white photo mounted on cardboard, a cabinet card, of a very large manor house...

His father carried a smaller one of his mother...

" **This is where she was raised and where her family still resides...** "

Confused, Tenchi looked at the picture, the lawyer, his father and then back at the picture...

" **Her family?...** "

The lawyer managed not to smile...

" **Yes, her family... Your mother was the second daughter of lord Yosho Katsuhito Masaki Jurai, the 15th Earl of Jurai... Your Grandfather...** "

Tenchi swore his jaw hit the ground...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( A while later... )**

It took some time for Tenchi to calm down...

" **But... But... The cottage?...** "

The lawyer, who had been with the family for decades, for better or worst, smiled...

" **Lady Airi had a love for riding in an open carriage on the estate... Her ladyship was out with his lordship one day when she went into early labor... They stopped at the cottage in question, that is on the estate and that is where your mother was born...** "

Tenchi kept looking at the picture...

" **And her family?...** "

Now the hard part...

" **The Earl had two fine sons and two wonderful daughters... Your mother being the youngest...** "

Some thing told Tenchi there was more coming...

" **Both of his sons followed in their family's long history of military service and thus serving both Queen and country...** "

No one replied...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **His 2nd son, Kamidake, was an army captain and he was often mentioned in dispatches while serving as the aide to famed General Gordon... However, he was also at Gordon's side at Khartoum, Sudan in 1885 when the city fell and Gordon was killed...** "

Tenchi looked at his father, who seen to be hearing this for the first time...

" **Then, earlier this past March, while serving in India, Captain Azuka, the Earl's 1st son and his heir, was killed during the Siege and Relief of Chitral in the India territories...** "

Tenchi wasn't too sure where this was going...

" **The body and thus confirmation of his death, were confirmed only two weeks ago when it was returned to England and his family...** "

He looked at Tenchi with sad eyes...

" **As the Earl's 1st daughter had no children, the son of his 2nd daughter becomes the heir... And upon his lordship's death, the 16th Earl of Jurai... You... Lord Tenchi...** "

Tenchi had sat there for a lifetime before it all began to sink in...

 _ **Why me?... Why me?...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The present... )**

For the past two weeks he had been walking around in a daze, trying to convince himself it was all just a dream or was that nightmare...

His quiet, simple life in Boston disappeared...

Learning to design home with his father, gone...

The political career his friend Amagasaki had suggested was unlikely, for who would vote for a future English Earl?...

And what was it that Earls did any way...

No one he asked seem to have a clue...

Perhaps when he finally met his grandfather, he would be able to ask him...

After all, HE had been an Earl for 40-50 years...

He should know what an Earl did...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Jurai Manor... )**

The butler opened the doors to the library...

" **Me Lord... Mr. Manchester...** "

Standing aside he allowed the lawyer to enter before closing the doors behind him...

It was early in the morning and his lordship was in one of his moods...

Which meant that it was best NOT to be around...

Besides there was still a few last minute things to pack for the move to the London Manor...

All but a skeleton staff had already gone ahead the night before and would even now be preparing for the Earl's arrival...

It had been a sudden, last minute thing the day before...

Ever since the death of the Earl's heir it seem that vultures were beginning to circle the estate...

And from the comments the Earl had made about certain members of the house of Lords, not only here...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The library... )**

The Earl was sitting in his favorite chair before the blazing fire...

Manchester couldn't imaging what the Earl was seeing in the roaring fire, but he could guess...

The estates of certain members of the house of lords, with them still in them...

The Earl had made an off handed comment to that effect once and then chuckled...

At-least he could still have dreams...

He gestured to the other chair facing the fire...

Sitting, Manchester could feel the heat of the fire...

 _ **Could he get a sunburn if he sat there too long?...**_

The Earl took a sip of his drink and set it back on the small table next to the chair...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

It was a while before the Earl broke the silence...

" **Your message said the steamer had arrived and our guest had been put up for the night in London, before coming out in the morning...** "

The lawyer nodded his head...

" **As we arranged...** "

He suddenly found the Earl looking right at him...

" **Will he do?...** "

Manchester wasn't sure how to answer that...

" **Do, My lord?...** "

The Earl's eyes moved from the lawyer to the flames...

" **Yes... Will he do or should just I send him back and then sit here waiting for the end?...** "

Manchester's eyebrow went up...

 _ **AAhhh...**_

" **In my opinion?... He'll do...** "

The Earl's eyebrow went up...

" **Because?...** "

Manchester smiled...

" **Family... A father, a sister and a female cousin...** "

The Earl tilted his head slightly, as if saying " **And**?"...

" **While he's looking ahead, his father is watching his back and the females, his sides...** "

After a while the Earl nodded his head...

They would all be leaving for London later, it was going to be a very long night...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( An Estate just outside London... )**

The room was dimly lite by the few candles, but those there didn't mind...

They'd been in darker places...

" **So... It's official... The Earl's heir is dead... Such a tragedy...** "

A pause...

" **For him...** "

There was some chuckling from the others at the joke...

Few here cared, one way or the other...

A low voice in the dark spoke up...

" **What about his daughter in the new world?...** "

Silence...

" **She may be dead, but didn't she have a son?...** "

More silence...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

After an eternity...

" **A young brat from the colonies?... He shouldn't be any trouble...** "

Another pause...

" **And if he is!... Accidents happen all the time...** "

There was quite a bit of chuckle at that...

" **The Jurai estate has untouched coal deposits under it... A fortune waiting to be strip mined...** "

" **What about the Earl's lady?...** "

More chuckling...

" **They haven't even communicated since the youngest daughter's death a decade ago...** "

Even more chuckling...

" **Oh, yes... I see brighter days ahead... Very bright days...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( After the lawyer left... )**

The room was quiet, except for the soft crackling of the fire...

" **You heard?...** "

A quiet female voice answered from the shadows...

" **You agree?...** "

The Earl just continued to stare into the fire...

" **Doesn't matter if I agree or not... He's our only hope at the moment...** "

" **So, you're still headed into London?... Not even going to be here when they come?...** "

The Earl smiled, something he rarely did any more...

" **There is blood in the water and so I have to be there at the moment...** "

There was a pause before he continued...

" **Will you be able to handle things here?...** "

A soft chuckling was the only reply...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

There was a knock on the door...

" **Yes?...** "

The butler stuck his head in...

" **Me Lord... The little one has ask if you could tuck her in?...** "

His lordship sighed...

" **Tell her I shall be up there as soon as I can...** "

After the door shut a soft chuckling floated in the air...

" **My, my... The things you have to do for the females in your life...** "

His lordship chuckled too...

Getting up, he slowly walked towards the door...

When he got there, he stopped...

" **Of all things, I believe this is what I shall miss the most while in London...** "

With that he opened the door and left the quiet room behind as he closed it...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

A female figure stepped from the shadows and walked over to the chair...

Picking up the glass she sniff the contents and sighed...

Walking over to the fireplace, she tossed the contents into the flames to be consumed...

 _ **Such a waste of good scotch...**_

She cleaned it with a cloth from her apron and put it back on the table...

One of the staff would return it to the kitchen later...

Looking around to check out the room, she walked over to a table next to the wall where there was a candle and holder...

Striking a match she lite the candle and turned to the wall...

Touching a decoration on the wall, a section of the panel opened with a slight squeak...

Smiling, she shook her red hair...

" **Have to remember to get to that...** "

After entering the wall, while holding the lite candle, she tapped some thing and the panel slid closed...

The only sound in the room was the crackling of the dying fire...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

To be continued...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...

 **. . . . . . . . .**


	2. Chapter 2

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Chapter - 02... Home coming...**

( **Jurai Manor...** )

A large, enclosed black carriage pulled up to the front door of the huge manor house...

A small crowd was standing out side the open doors, waiting to get a look at the new young 'lord'...

As the coachman was getting down, the door facing the crowd opened and a young boy hopped down to the ground...

He had refused to wear the fancy wear that had been among his new wardrobe...

For back in Boston what he was wearing was still 'fancy', but a lot more comfortable...

Before any one could react, he bent down and unrolled the carriage's steps as he'd seen the coachman do when they were picked up at the train station...

A figure towards the front of the coach caught his eye and the coachman, a female, stood there smiling at him...

The boy smiled back and shrugged his shoulders...

He had been sitting for forever, first from London on the train and then from the station in the carriage...

The chance to do some thing was just too much...

Every thing that his mother had taught him, when he was younger, told him it was the right thing to do, so he did it...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Standing back up, he faced the open door and held out his hand...

A gloved hand reached out and took his...

A dark haired young female appeared, she too had chosen more conservative travelling wear...

The boy helped her down the steps with great care...

As she stepped past him, she smiled, leaned over and gave him a small kiss on his cheek...

" **humm...** "

Having paused, he now looked up to find yet another dark haired female in the doorway...  
This one was staring down at him, a slight frown on her face...

Sighing, he reached up, took her hand and with great care helped her down also...

She was too was wearing conservative travelling wear or a slightly different color...

As she stepped past him, she reached over and gave him a gentle tap on the top of his head with her index finger...

He managed to hide a small smile, she had hit him harder, quite often in the past...

Mostly to let him know she was upset with him, but some times just to remind him she was watching...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The next person to appear was a tall male with just a touch of gray in his dark haired, a small pair of glasses resting on his nose...

In America he'd never worn his glasses in public, but HERE, it seem every one wore them...

His suit was similar to any that one would see on a street in London, on some upper class male...

He smile at the boy and helped himself down...

The boy looked behind him, into the carriage and as he started to say something, the older male spoke up...

" **I believe we are keeping every one waiting...** "

He gestured towards the crowd at the door...

The boy looked a bit confused, but turned towards the waiting crowd...

At which time the two females took up positions on both sides of him and each took an arm...

He wasn't sure if the two girls had done that to support him or to keep him from making a last minute run for it...

The boy sighed, well, any chance to run was gone now, all he could do was step forward, with the young ladies...

 _ **Well, onward and upward?...**_

Following just behind them, the older male adjusted his glasses and smiled...

 _ **And so it begins...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Nearby... )**

Two sets of eyes had been observing the carriage's arrival from an upstairs window...

The two females were dressed quite differently...

While one was dressed in upper class female attire, the other was wearing male clothing and might almost be mistaken for one, but for her figure...

They watched as the young boy, the young lord, got out and set the steps himself...

Both raised an eyebrow at that...

The boyish looking female was the first to speak ...

" **So that's the new young lord... Doesn't look like much...** "

They continued to watch as he helped the two young females down from the carriage...

Now THIS was how an English male acted...

After a moment she spoke again...

" **Wonder which is the sister and which is the cousin?...** "

The girl with the longer hair thought for a moment...

" **I'd say the 2nd is the sister...** "

The 1st girl, with short hair turned to look at her...

" **And why do you say that?...** "

The other girl smiled...

" **A lord, young or old is suppose to wait for the coachman or a servant to open the door, not do it himself... Not exactly giving a very good 1st impression... Thus the rap on the head... It is some thing an older sibling would do!...** "

The other girl smiled...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **But isn't he well mannered?...** "

The two females turned to look at the younger girl at the other window...

She was wearing garb similar to the older, long hair's...

" **It shows that he cares and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty...** "

She smiled...

The other two turned to look at what was happening below...

" **Remember... He's an American so he probably won't act like the average English male... Do give him a chance to adjust before you two begin to 'inspect' him...** "

The two older girls looked at the younger one and smiled, there was never a question as to who was the smartest of the three...

The short haired girl looked at the others...

" **I know why I'm not down there, but shouldn't you two be there?...** "

The older girl answered...

" **It was thought that they should be allowed time to get settled in before we appear... They're being introduced to the staff and then shown to their rooms, so they can relax after their trip up from London... The early morning train ride and then the long carriage ride from the station will take it out of you... By the time lunch is ready, so should they...** "

The other girls nodded their heads and looked out the window again...

Below the young lord suddenly paused and seem to be looking up at the windows, almost right at them...

The two older girls stepped back from the window and then looked at each other, but the younger one just chuckled...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Out front... )**

For some reason Tenchi had turned and glanced up at the windows on the second floor...

He thought he had seen some slight movement up there...

Perhaps it was others that were not with the official welcome group...

He smiled, at any rate it probably not some one who was planning on ambushing him, like had happen in Boston or Chicago...

His attention now returned to the female who was approaching them, down the stairs from the pair of large open doors...

She approached between the two rows of females lined up on both sides to greet them...

A little shorted than himself, there was some thing about her that suggested that he trust her...

Perhaps it was all that red hair...

He had once been warned about red headed females, they were said to be the wildest and most dangerous of all the females...

The few he had met tended to stand out because they were smarted than most if not ALL the males around them...

However, there was some thing about her, in her eyes and smile that caused him to trust her...

" **Hello... I'm** **Washu Hakubi and I'm in charge of the household staff... If there's any thing you need feel free to ask...** "

Moving closer to Tenchi, she smiled up and she seem to be able to look him right in the eye...

" **I like you... You wanna be a guinea pig for my experiments?** "

 **NOW** he was starting to get nervous...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London... )**

The butler opened the door and entered the library of the Earl's London town house...

" **Me Lord... Mr. Manchester...** "

Stepping aside he let the lawyer enter before leaving, closing the door quietly behind him...

His lordship was sitting behind a large desk studying some papers...

" **Ahh... Manchester... And what do you have to report?...** "

He gestured to the large padded chair over to one side...

Sitting, the lawyer took time to take a deep breath before speaking...

" **As your lordship knows, the young lord and party left for the estate on the early train... Having spent their 1st night in England at the new Savoy hotel...** "

He paused...

" **It was a good thing that we went to the trouble of booking the suite a whole week ahead of time and then only for the night... It was something of a mad house down there when we arrived to check in... You would have thought the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is tomorrow, instead of two years from now...** "

The Earl had to smile...

" **You have to bear with them, it's not often that you get to celebrate such a rare jubilee... In the past they usually don't last that long... Her majesty has been like a mother to us all and so we wish to do this right...** "

He paused for a moment...

" **And besides being the very newest lodgings in London, it also happens to be the very best... And we did want to give the very best impression to our guest...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The lawyer nodded his head...

" **Has there been any word from the estate?...** "

The earl smiled...

" **Mrs Hakubi contacted me just before you arrived... On that new 'telephone' device that she was so insistant I get connected to... The one that now has a new line running between London and Liverpool...** "

The Earl paused for a moment...

" **Had to call in a few favors for that...** "

He smiled...

" **But it has proved quite helpful with the estate... She is now able to contact me here in London and keep me updated, almost daily... She reports that the new young lord has arrived safely and is settling into his new environment...** "

The earl smiled as the lawyer's eyebrow went up...

" **That's her way of saying the young boy is getting use to living in the country after city life... All those years as a member of the Royal Science Academy has effected her vocabulary... Sort of like talking to Lord Granville of the Foreign Office... You know that he is speaking the Queen's English, but it still sounds like a foreign language...** "

He chuckled...

" **She's had little or no trouble communicating with the members of the staff when she first got there... And since reorganizing every thing, the estate has shown greatly improved, both in the staff and the tenant's work output... I understand that some of those tenants who moved away are now inquiring about returning to the estate... Especially some of the young who went to the cities to try and find work...** "

The Earl's smile brightened...

" **And all this while bringing up those two young daughters of hers... I understand she has even been able to find time to be down in that laboratory that she created in the old dungeon, to continue her research...** "

Both men smiled...

The Earl sighed...

" **Little wonder her Majesty dropped by for a visit on her way up to Scotland earlier this year... But the staff was able to handle it with very little disruption...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Mr. Manchester sighed...

" **When word reached me of her visit I must admit I almost panicked... She has been know to deliver bad news personally at times...** "

The Earl sighed...

" **Yes... It was her Majesty who delivered the word about my oldest... She also arranged for his return later...** "

The lawyer nodded his head, he'd been involved with the return of the body, which brought him back to the present...

" **I understand that sharks are circling again?...** "

The Earl nodded his head...

" **As we thought... A secret know to more that one is not a secret long... It seems word of that coal field under that stone-age cave site that Mrs Hakubi's oldest daughter discovered on the estate last year, has gotten out...** "

They both sighed...

" **I can think of half a dozen lords licking their lips at the chance to gain access to that land and start strip mining it...** "

The lawyer sighed...

" **And I can name a dozen more who wouldn't give the idea of doing it over your dead body so much as a second thought...** "

The Earl chuckled...

" **I believe I could name some of them too...** "

He paused for a moment to think and then began to smile...

" **Perhaps it is time for us to ask for help from the local law...** "

The lawyer's eyes widened...

" **Tell me you're not planning on asking the Sheriff of Nottingham for help!... You do know who he will send?...** "

The Earl just smiled...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

( **Jurai Manor...** )

While every one else was getting out of the carriage on one side, a dark figure let themselves out on the other side...

Minaho Masaki had her own reasons for entering the manor this way...

One reason was that her full name happen to be Minaho Masaki Jurai, the 1st daughter of Lord and lady Jurai and the young lord's aunt...

Some years before, at her sister's funeral, she and her mother had met the young lord's father...

Her father, the Earl had not cared for her marrying an American...

When their first born was a female, he refused to have any thing more to do with them and stopped communicating with her...

By the time the second child, a boy, came along he had even become estranged with his wife...

Her ladyship had disagreed with him, quite loudly and quietly continued to keep in touch...

They had exchanged condolences and after some thought her mother decided to introduced both of them to him...

It was then that she had suggested that Minaho join his family, as a nanny, to help him watch over the two children...

Until his wife's death in the recent blizzard in New York, he'd never known how much it took to handle a young boy, much less a young girl...

She quickly proved to be a god sent...

Especially when the young female cousin lost her parent and she joined the small family...

Of course, in turn she had kept her mother informed of how her grandchildren were doing...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

However, due to a serious childhood illness, she was unable to have a child of her own...

But some time before she had been married ...

When her husband turned out not to be not all he had appeared to be, he left her...

But not alone, for she had been taking care of his male child from a previous 'wife', now dead...

Minaho had then adopted the child and had been taking care of him...

That is until her mother asked her to go with her to America...

She had left the boy with family members, but kept in touch, even after she agreed to join the Masaki family...

She had been getting and sending letters weekly ever since...

At-least twice a year she managed to get away and visit him for a while, returning with one of those new picture images of them together...

As it was, a number of his female cousins tended to keep him from getting too lonely...

There hadn't been time to visit him while they were in London, but she just might be able to arrange for him to come out to the manor and stay with her...

It would depend on a number of things...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **I like you... You wanna be a guinea pig for my experiments?** "

She smiled, now there was a voice she hadn't heard in a while...

Washu Hakubi, presently in charge of the Juraian household staff and former member of the Royal Science Academy in London...

It seem that the members didn't like the idea of one of the members being 'preggy' ( with child ) and especially not a young female member...

A friend of her husband, Captain Kamidake Jurai, introduced her to his mothe,r who found her skills at organization just what she needed for their country estate...

And so she and her baby girls had became part of the Jurai family...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Minaho knew that with her father in London with the main staff, only Washu would recognize her...

And she wasn't sure what she should to do next...

But, she was going to have to arrange to see her mother with as few people knowing as possible...

And she knew that she needed Washu's help for that...

She watched as Washu guided the young lord to meet the household staff, his sister and cousin each holding an arm...

No one else seem to notice her...

Except Tenchi's father, her brother-in-law...

Smiling, he gave her a slight nod of his head, the coast seem to be clear...

Minaho sighed and made her way to the old side entrance to the manor...

Once inside she should be able to find and get a chance to talk to Washu...

She'd played hide-and-seek in this manor since she was able to walk...

It was really good to be back...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London... )**

The old dungeon was the perfect place for discussing dark deeds...

" **'e juss gut werd... De 'ung lurd hzz mod it...** "

The figure sitting in the shadows expressed no emotion...

" **So the young lord has made it to the family estate!...** "

There was mumbling in the shadows...

" **Kill 'm...** "

The figure chuckled...

" **This brat is an unknown, it took us months to manage the other heir's 'death'...** "

More mumbling...

" **The stakes are high... Too high to have people sniffing around...** "

Silence...

" **We shall wait and watch...** "

A pause and silence...

" **For now...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Across town... )**

" **-you know who he's going to send?...** "

But the Earl was smiling...

The Sheriff of Nottingham, was one Minami Kuramitsu, an old childhood friend of the Earl's...

One of the very few left these days...

And his newest officer and favorite aide was his granddaughter, one constable Mihoshi Kuramitsu...

Who had been helpful in solving a number of crimes in her short career...

When she was not helping out at the local tavern that her mother owned in Nottingham...

However, her was also known to have the very worst luck in all of England..

Where she went, disaster just seem to follow along behind her...

Only her cousin, Seina Yamada, seem to have worst luck...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

One day while fishing in a small row boat on the Thames river, he fell asleep and later awoke out in the middle of the English Channel...

A French fishing boat, that happen to be passing by, stopped to pick him up...

But shortly there after he was back in his boat and the crew of the french boat were in another small boat, watching their fishing boat sink...

A little while after that a German fishing boat also stopped to picked them up, but were soon also in a small boat too, as their boat sank...

Finally an English fisherman came along and asked what had happen...

A short while later the English fisherman pulled into Dover harbor, trailing the three smaller boats...

Seina's father, a minor lord of some means, who was well aware of his son's misfortune, made arrangements to replace the two fishing boats...

At the moment, Seina was up in Scotland, on the family estate - 'recovering'...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **To be continued...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	3. Chapter 3

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

(note: Didn't realize just how complex this was going to get when I started...Daferge...)

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Chapter - 03... Family...**

( **Jurai Manor...** )

Situated to the west of Nottingham, the Jurai estate was still close enough to the town to ask help of the local Sheriff ( the local law enforcement officer )...

And the Earl had informed the head of the manor staff that he was sending her some help...

So when Mrs. Washu Hakubi opened the doors, she was not (too) surprised at who was standing there...

A tall blonde female in the uniform of a constable ( a police officer ) smiling at her...

Although the uniform was a bit tight, it was unlikely that any of the other male officers or any of the males of Nottingham could find reason to complain...

The females of Nottingham on the other hand, who knew her, enjoyed watching their big strong males turn into school boys when she walked by, smiling...

Besides, who would say any thing about the Sheriff of Nottingham's grand-daughter...

Constable Mihoshi Kuramitsu...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

While her mother, Mitoto, was still alive and running the most popular tavern in Nottingham, her father had died with the Earl's 2nd son along with General Gordon some time back...

Both had been awarded the Victorian Cross, the highest medal an English soldier could be awarded...

And to some it seem that she had inherited some of her father's bad luck...

Things just seem to happen around her...

Even so, she had solved a number of cases and left a trail of destruction behind her since becoming a constable...

Washu had done a study for her grandfather in her spare time...

From what she had learned, it was quite clear that most of the misfortune was self induced...

Very few English males had ever seen a female wearing such a tight fitting uniform before...

( It seem there was a regulation about officers only wearing the regulation uniforms - and they just hadn't been designed with female officers in mind... )

And it could be very distracting, easily causing the male not to notice that wall or hole in the ground, directly in front of them...

And being English "gentlemen" they could hardly be expected to admit to staring at a female's figure...

SO - it all had to be due to "bad luck"...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

At any rate, if one remained calm and didn't get distracted, nothing usually happened...

But there were still a few things that that even she couldn't explain...

She suspected that sub-consciously Mihoshi was quite brilliant, like sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Robert Boyde or herself...

She just wasn't self aware of it...

And Washu wasn't sure the world was quite ready for her finding out...

But at the moment...

" **Ahh... Constable... How can I help you?...** "

And Washu smiled as she watched the wheels begin to turn in Mihoshi's head...

After a thoughtful pause, Mihoshi responded...

" **Oh... Am I here for your help?...** "

Sighing, Washu knew she could continue this for quite some time, but it had been a long day already...

Reaching out, she grabbed the constable's hand and pulled her into the manor, closing the door behind them...

" **MRS. WASHU!...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London... )**

Sitting at his desk the Earl suddenly looked up from the papers and looked around...

He could have sworn he just heard something...

His butler, for god only knew how many years, had just removed his finished lunch plate and was just about to leave the room...

" **Did you feel some thing just now?...** "

From past experiences the butler knew better than to ask questions...

Remaining quite calm, he replied...

" **No sir...** "

He looked at the clock...

" **The 11:40 doesn't pass by for about another 20 minutes...** "

The Earl smiled...

The newer rail trains passing nearby tended to make more noise and vibrations these days...

Perhaps all this heir stuff was putting him on edge...

As his lawyer had noted, there were those who were just waiting for him to pass on (die) to make a move on the Jurain manor...

And some were more than willing to help him on his way...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Upon contacting his friend the Sheriff, he found he was quite happy to send help out to the estate...

In fact his grand-daughter needed to get out of town - er - away from the office for a while...

The Earl had smiled at the thought of the young constable becoming involved in Washu's organized household...

He'd love to be there and watch...

The dungeon hadn't been used in decades, but even with Washu putting in her lab, there was still a large enough section left to show guests some times...

And she even kept the devices in it in the best of working order, even with all the cobwebs...

( Washu said they added - 'atmosphere'?... )

Some of the servants thought she was kidding when she threaten to put them " **in irons** "...

They found that she didn't bluff and had spent half an hour or so chained to the dungeon wall...

He really hoped the young constable didn't get on her wrong side or she could find herself down there, as her oldest daughter had, once or twice...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Unlike, in High places, the Earl didn't have 'friends' in "Low" places...

But he did have a few so called "contacts" and knew some other people, who owed him, who did...

In fact, he'd just gotten a note from one of them...

However, between the spelling and handwriting it had still taken him some time and effort to read...

And if he was reading it right, those that he had an interest in were going to sit back and wait - at least for now...

That seem to imply that his grandson and heir was safe for the moment, but things could change...

And at the moment, although there were over two dozen people at the estate, only two were males and one was a boy...

To hire and send 'guards' out there would let every one know he was worried...

And THAT would really attract the hungry sharks...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Jurai Manor... )**

As Tenchi, his sister and cousin approached the dining room, they saw Mrs. Hakubi standing outside the open doors with five young females...

From their dress he assumed they were not staff...

There were a pair in matching evening-wear at one end and another mismatched pair at the other...

But it was the one in the middle that drew his eye...

He could never ever recall seeing a female dressed as she was...

She seem to be wearing a uniform, but unlike almost every other person he met since landing in London, it wasn't tailored for her...

He so wanted to ask, but a squeeze of his arm by his sister said 'later'...

Besides, some thing told him he was going to get an introduce shortly - from Mrs. Hakubi...

He braced himself...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Scotland... )**

A dark haired young boy stood on the top of the castle's tallest tower...

When ever Seina Yamada wanted to get away from thing or just to get out of every one's way, he'd come up here...

It seem that no matter how bad his luck got, the old family castle seem to be able to survive it...

It seem that ancient stones weren't effected, like most other things were...

And way up here there was no one to effect...

His mother had declared that any messes he caused, he would have to clear up...

As such he had been much more aware of his surrounding of late and thus 'accidents' had tended to decline...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The stone seat gave him a wonderful view over the parapet in several directions...

To the East, so he could watch the sun rise over the distant hills...

Or the West, to watch it set on even more hills...

But his most favorite view was to the South, back to his few friends and his favorite cousin...

His sister was down there some where, doing some thing while he was stuck up here...

All because he went fishing in a rowboat and had fallen asleep...

Some one had once told him that luck was a lady, a Lady Luck...

He tended to believe it...

For as long as he could remember he seem to have troubles with females...

Why shouldn't one have a hand in his fate?...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

He was startled when a finger brushed a tear away...

Turning he looked up to find one of the few people who didn't seem to be affected by his 'luck', Kiriko Masaki...

" **Thought you were down in London or some where?...** "

She smiled...

" **Nottingham, watching over Mihoshi...** "

Seina now smiled, it was always good to hear his cousin's name...

Kiriko had known him since he was little, when he met her little brother and they became fast friends, despite his so called " **bad luck** "...

She had been one of the few people willing to baby-sit him when he was younger...

To him, she had been like an Angel...

It was good to see her...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **What brings you up here?...** "

The words were out of his mouth before he realized and her smile brightened...

She chuckled before replying...

" **Your mom sent me and said that if you'd had enough of the highland air, it was OK to bring you back down south...** "

She saw his eyes glance that direction...

" **At-least as far as Nottingham... Further south still isn't quite ready for your return...** "

He sighed, then he looked at her, a look of concern on his face...

" **But what about Mihoshi... If the two of us got together, isn't there a chance Nottingham might get burnt to the ground?...** "

Kiriko just smiled...

" **Past experience says just the opposite... You two seem to cancel each other out - at least for the most part**... "

They stood there for a while...

" **Well?...** "

Smiling Seina offered her his arm and they headed towards the stairs...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Jurai Manor... )**

The dining room was quite busy at the moment...

Lunch was about to be served and it had been prepared just to welcome him to the Manor...

Tenchi had never seen such a huge dining table before...

His first thought had been that you could put enough food on it for the whole city of Boston...

Mrs. Hakubi - no, she had insisted on being called " **Washu** " - had led him to the tall chair at the end of the table, his grandfather's chair...

She told him that with the Earl gone, he was now **THE** head of the house and should sit there...

So he was now standing before his chair and he was looking down the table...

To his right stood his sister Tennyo and just beyond her stood the first members of his mother's family whom he had ever encountered...

A pair of charming sisters, Ayeka and Sasami Jurai...

While Sasami, had light hair and was a year younger than him, Ayeka had dark hair and was several years older...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Even thou related, it seem that little Sasami had been of some help with the meal to welcome him...

It seem that she loved to cook and Washu ( and the staff ) enjoyed having her...

Like him, they were grand children, but of the Earl's sister, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai...

While their parents, Azusa and Misaki Jurai were in Japan for her majesties foreign office, Sasami had been staying out here, at the family estate...

Her sister, Ayeka, had been staying with friends in London, until she had finally gotten tired of that dull, boring London society life...

She had then joined her sister on the family estate...

Now it seem, she spent most of her time in the Earl's library reading from his large collection...

The Earl had one of the largest collections of old manuscripts outside the royal palace...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Then to his left was his cousin Mayuka and just beyond her was Washu's two unusual daughters...

The taller, older one, with short light hair was Ryoko, who was also older than him...

The other, with longer brownish color hair, was Ryo-Ohko, not only the youngest of the four, but it seem, the shyest too...

And standing at the far end of the table was that very unusual yellow haired female in the uniform...

Washu had introduced her as " **Constable Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Nottingham Constabulary** ", a member of a local law enforcement organization...

It seem that his grandfather had requested help from the local Sheriff and she had been his response...

As Washu tended to accept her, so would he...

So, it seem that she would be with them for a few days...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

However, at the moment Tenchi had a bit of a problem...

It seem that his mother had taught him to always respect females and thus to hold their seats for them to sit...

The problem was...

As 'head-of-the-house' he was suppose to standing at the head of the table and then sit first...

Then all of his guest could sit, including family...

And at the moment all eyes at the table were on him...

He wasn't sure what his grandfather would do, but he knew what he believed he should...

" **Ladies!...** "

He now had every eye in the room on him...

" **I understand that I am suppose to sit first...** "

He saw his sister smile...

He held out both hands palm up...

" **However, as your host, I believe I should allow you to sit first...** "

Did he just see Washu smile?...

He smiled as they all sat...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

As he sat, he looked at the huge painting on the wall to his right...

Washu had pointed it out to him as they had entered earlier, he was the first Earl, for his services to the crown long ago...

His sister had squeezed his arm when he told Washu they would never get him to dress up like that...

Washu had smiled and said she would make a note...

He hadn't seen the girls behind him smile at his comment...

Now he got the odd feeling the painting was looking down on him for some reason...

 _ **Just my imagination...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Within the wall... )**

A pair of eyes **WERE** watching from above...

Through the eyes of the painting...

The same eyes that had been watching over him for the past decade or so...

Minaho had last been in these secret passages a life time ago, before her sister, Tenchi's mom had died...

Once she entered one of the secret hidden doors on the ground floor, it all came back...

Each passage, each turn, each staircase had came back to her as if she'd never left...

It seem that Washu had kept the passage way just as clean as she did the rest of the house...

So it was easy to find her way through the passages and back up to her old room...

She was amazed as she stepped out the secret panel in the corner of her room...

It was as if she had never left, every thing was still right where she'd left it when her left with her mother to go to America and her sister's funeral...

She brushed the tears away - it was so good to be home...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

She had almost lost track of time as she changed out of her travel wear and into some thing much more comfortable...

She was brushing her hair with her old favorite brush when the bells rang, announced the meal was ready...

So she made her way through the passages to the peek hole which over looked the hallway out side the dining room...

Opening the hole she watched as Washu introduced Tenchi to the others who were staying at the manor...

She smiled, it had been so long since she'd seen Ayeka and Ryoko...

They had both grown into fine young ladies, thou it was a bit strange to see Ryoko in a dress...

She had always been more at home in pants and a shirt...

But it would be hard for any one to mistake her for a boy now...

Where as Ayeka still seem to make every thing she wore look more elegant...

She was truly her mother's daughter...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

And Sasami and Ryo-Ohki - they had been small children when she last saw them...

They both seem to be doing well too...

Mihoshi looked just like she did when last she saw her, she would recognize that golden hair and bright smile any where...

And when Tenchi took her hand as Washu introduced her to him, Minaho thought Mihoshi was going to faint...

From the looks in Ayeka and Ryoko's eyes she began to wonder if she should slit Tenchi a warning or just sit back and watch?...

She knew which way Tenchi's father would go...

Both he and her sister would be proud of how he handled the sitting...

Closing the peephole she began her return to her old room...

It would be some time before things settled down and she could arrange to meet Washu, alone...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Later in the kitchen... )**

The staff in the kitchen was made up of just about every member still at the manor...

Even the female coach driver, who usually spent most of her time out in the stables taking care of what livestock, was there helping out...

While a couple of the staff were preparing the guest rooms for them, the rest of the staff would be preparing and serving the food...

Half a dozen were needed to get the dishes out to the table, the empty plates back to the kitchen...

There was a light course for this evening...

Just a light soup before the main course and then the dessert after...

However, with Constable Kuramitsu present, request for seconds and thirds were expected...

Washu had assigned an extra staff member to her...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Even with all the things to do, Washu noted that there was still time for comments to be made...

" **An' then smiling he spread his arms and asked his guest to sit, before he did...** "

The other girls stared at the talker, one of the servers...

The head cook smiled...

" **No surprise, after him helpin' his ladies down from the coach... We've a true gentleman here, we do...** "

Washu had to smile...

One of the servers touched her arm, getting her attention...

" **Yes?...** "

The young girl smiled and held up an empty glass...

Sighing, Washu had an idea where this was leading...

" **Ryoko?...** "

As the girl nodded, Washu smiled and picked up a fresh glass of milk...

" **It's milk all around... No wine...** "

The girl took the glass and smiled, Ryoko might not like it, but Washu had the last word...

As the girl left, Washu turned to the others and clapped her hands...

" **OK... This is the young lord's first meal here in his new home... Lets do our very best to make it memorable for him...** "

Every one turned back to what they were doing...

And Washu smiled, it was a good beginning...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **To be continued...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	4. Chapter 4

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **chapter -04 ... First night...**

( **Tenchi's room...** )

It was bad enough having to 'fight off' his sister trying to get him ready for bed, it seem there were now a number of the female staff members to help him get ready...

As in helping him remove his clothes and fixing him a bath at the end of a long day...

It seem that like his rich uncle's family back in Boston, the Earl also had indoor plumbing...

He had spent many a night going out to the small shed out back of the building his family lived in...

Here there was a whole room you went to clean up...

There was the odd seat in the corner you sat on, across from the huge cast tub...

Unlike the copper one he was use to, this one was up on legs with heated water!...

And it was waiting for him, after he got undressed...

The floor of the 'Bath room' had a tile floor, made of the same stuff the plates at dinner had been made of...

Washu had said that the material was much easier to keep clean than the wooden floors back in Boston...

She had mentioned a fellow scientist who had done some research and come up with all these ideas about how to help people live longer, healthier lives...

Some french man named Pasteur?...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu had smiled and shown him to his room, after the stop at the unusual room...

The seat and what it was for had his eyes wide, his sister and cousin had both snickered at him...

It seem that they had a better understanding of how the well-to-do lived...

Two of the staff were there, lighting candles, as it was beginning to get dark...

His bed clothes were already set out for him on his bed and only after his sister promise to help him did he agree to take the bath...

Also, with her there, he assure Washu that he didn't need the two staff members...

Smiling, Washu had sent the girls off to attend to other, while his sister gathered his bed clothes and led him back through the door to the tub...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

After every one was gone and they were alone, Tennyo pressed him against the tub and spoke her mind, as she had for as long as he'd been alive...

" **Now... Mister, I can do it ALL my self!...** "

He sighed, this was going to be a LONG one...

" **This is an entirely different world you are now in... And you are going to have to make do...** "...

She paused, making sure she had his attention...

" **There was a lot of things you were able to get away with over there, that you won't over here... And allowing the staff to do their duty and work is one of them... If you have a problem, talk to me or Washu about it and we'll handle it... In a sense you were telling those two that you didn't trust them... They pride themselves in their work and it's important to them...** "...

She saw he had his hand up, he had a question...

" **You and** **Mayuka I'm use too... Even if I believe that I can get myself bathed and dressed...** "

She stood there, not replying, but not stopping him ether...

" **Some how I've been removed from the life I once knew and dropped into this newer, much stranger one...** "

They looked each other in the eye...

He wasn't the only one leaving a lot behind...

" **All so that I can step into grandfather's place if some thing happens to him...** "

She knew he knew that wasn't an 'if', but a 'when'...

She sighed...

" **OK... I'll step out so you can remove your clothes and put them on the back of the chair...** "

She gestured to a wooden chair next to the wall, next to the sink...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The sink was something new too...

All his life he had used a pitcher of water and a bowl to wash up with, this sink was different...

A 'tap' provided water to the sink, a larger, fixed bowel that had a hole in the bottom...

A rubber 'plug' on a chain closed the hole and held the water in for use...

When done, pull the chain, open the hole and the water would go down the hole and through metal pipe to the out side...

No more having to toss the water out the window...

Washu had said the tub worked the same way, only much bigger...

Water was pumped to the floor above and gravity would bring it down...

There was even a small boiler up there, to heat the water for the bath...

No more heating buckets of water on stoves or in fire places, then toting it to the tub...

Tenchi shook his head, there was so much to learn...

And he began to undo his shirt buttons...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

( **Jurai Manor...** )

It had been a long day as Washu walked the dark halls with a small candle one last time...

It was lighter than an oil lamp and easier to handle...

With any luck, the 'generator' she'd designed would be finished next month and with help from a few old friends, parts of the manor would have that new electric lighting for the new year...

But only the main rooms down stairs...

The bed room and upper rooms would have to wait til they could afford more of that expensive copper wiring and those glass bulbs...

London had only recently build it's own power plant a few years ago and they were still 'wiring' the city...

Electricity was first installed in the Ball Room of Buckingham Palace in 1883...

And it had taken a number of years to extend it throughout the rest of the Palace...

A good friend in Germany was building the generator for her, in exchange for her plans...

There was a good chance he'd even build her a second one if thing worked out...

Thou known for their armaments, the Krupp family did other stuff too...

Perhaps this would let her friend get away from all that weapons making...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Usually she would have had some quiet time in her lab, which was almost like sleep...

But today she had been on the move from the very moment she got up...

And today she had even gotten up an hour earlier to get a head start on the day...

The new heir, a young boy from America would be arriving with his family...

They had stayed over night in London and would be coming by early train, then carriage to the estate...

They'd had over a week to get ready, ever since the Earl's lawyer had wired them that the new heir had accepting the title and was indeed coming...

The problems began the day before, when the Earl had informed her that he had to move back into London for a while and was going to need to take much of the staff...

Any where the Earl was for more than a few day, he would need them to take care of where he was staying...

It was short notice, but it wasn't the first time...

Since taking over as head of the staff, she had lost count of how many emergencies had come up...

The last had been earlier in the year when she answered the door and found the Queen and her whole entourage standing there...

NOW, that was as close to having a heart attack as she ever wanted to come...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Near the main stairs she stopped and faced a dark area next to the stairs...

" **Can I help you?... You seem to be waiting for some one?...** "

She heard a soft chuckle as a dark figure stepped closer...

" **Still have good eyes... Little Washu...** "

Washu's eyes widened, only the Earl's children had ever called her that, but they were all dead...

Her mouth fell open...

 _ **Except for...**_

Lady Minaho Masaki Jurai, the Earl's oldest and only surviving daughter stepped into the light of the small candle, smiling...

She reached over and lifted Washu's jaw, closing her mouth...

" **I see you haven't forgotten me...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Later... )**

With her small oil lantern, Washu was using one of the secret tunnels she seldom used, as they went back to the Earl's children's rooms...

And none of these rooms had been used since the eldest son died...

Until now...

The Earl's oldest daughter had returned and quietly moved back into her room...

Washu hadn't seen or heard from her since she went to America years before with her Ladyship for her sister's funeral...

She hadn't returned and her Ladyship said nothing...

Only recently did she discover why...

At her mother's suggestion and with her brother-in-law's permission, she'd taken a position as nanny to her sister's son and daughter...

Only the two knew who she was and where she was...

Now she had come home again...

Perhaps the family would begin to heal...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Passing the door to an old secret room, she noted that it was slightly ajar, indicating recent entry...

Entering she looked around the tiny room, it had been a secret get-a-way place, where members of the family could be alone when need be...

An old bookshelf, empty and a small table with chair were all that was in there...

A small lantern and a stack of papers on the table caught her eye...

They hadn't been there the last time she was here, a month or so ago...

Noting that the there was writing on the papers, she also noticed the ink bottle and pen over to the side...

Some one had been using the room recently and standing close, her eyes went to the words on the papers...

As she read, her eyes widened and a smile formed on her lips...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Once she started she couldn't stop, this was dangerous stuff...

She knew of at least two female who should never know of this, much less read it...

The handwriting gave the writer away, as did the cologne in the air...

" **It seems some one was spying on the males of the family, when they were telling wild stories about their recent adventures...** "...

She turn to face a figure in the corner...

Their head was down as they stepped into the light... Sasami Masaki Jurai had a smile on her face as she looked up as Washu...

" **What do you think?...** "...

Washu tilted her head slightly as she continued to smile...

" **I believe I should inform Lady Seto that some one knows about these secret passages!...** "

Sasami smiled and giggled...

" **Who do you think showed them to me?...** "

Washu closed her eyes and sighed, why was she not surprised?...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Sasami continued...

" **It's only a rough draft... You did suggest I do some writing...** "

Washu sighed again, eyes still closed...

" **You like to cook... I was thinking a cook book!...** "

Sasami smiled...

" **But this seem like more fun... I'll need some one to check my spelling and grammar before I try to publish it...** "

Washu's eye's snapped open, some one had made up their mind, never a good sign...

" **Publish it?...** "

Sasami's smile got even bigger...

" **Not under my own name, of course... Perhaps a pen name like that famous American author, Mr. Clemens uses, Mark Twain I believe it is...** "

Washu sighed before replying...

" **Not the only name change I suggest... And some real editing of your descriptions if you want some real publisher to even consider it...** "

Sasami giggled again...

" **Of course, silly... I just used Ayeka and Ryokos name in this 1st version to rough out the basic story and get a feel for it...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu sighed as she looked at the first line on the first page and read it out loud...

" **Lady Ayeka Masaki Jurai wondered if this was a fantasy or a nightmare... She knew it couldn't be reality... She couldn't really be here, deep within the heart of darkest Afrika, on a dark night, standing before a raging bonfire, in the arms of the most amazing, strong and handsome male...** "

It was the sentences that followed that Washu was sure certain other females in the manor should never, ever see...

" **It may take a while to write, years in fact... But, how does Edgar Rice Burroughs and Tarzan of the Apes sound?...** "

Washu smiled and sighed once more, looking at the title at the top of that 1st page...

" **Much better than 'Tenchi of the Apes'...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Another Room... )**

Suddenly Tenchi's eyes were open and he sat up in his new very large bed...

He looked around the darkened room, but there was nothing there...

So why did he feel as if some one had just tossed ice water on him?...

Sighing, he lay back down, under the layers of thick warm blankets...

It must be that he was still getting use to sleeping in a strange place...

Like aboard ship and at the room in London last night...

It would just take a little time...

He sighed and closed his eyes...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

To be continued...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	5. Chapter 5

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **chapter -05 ... A quiet night...**

 **( A secret room... )**

Little Sasami watched as Washu read the draft of a story she had decided to write...

It was an adventure romance set in one of the few mysterious places left...

The unexplored jungles on the African continent...

In her 1st draft she had used names she knew, like her sister's and Washu's daughter's...

For the main character and hero, she had used the name of her new cousin...

Young Lord Tenchi from America...

When she heard the name some weeks before, mentioned by the Earl, she had liked it...

The final draft would use more 'common' names, like Jane and such...

She had asked a few people she knew for some suggestions...

Not going into the WHY she wanted them...

There were still many things that proper young ladies didn't do...

Even in this age of enlightenment...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

She'd written a letter to her former tutor, sister Tsunami, a Catholic nun who had spent time in Africa as a missionary...

She had inquired about names and places to use...

She'd gotten a reply back a week before, apologizing for not writing sooner...

But being an assistant to the Reverend Mother of Malton Priory in North Yorkshire kept her busy...

Susami confided that she wish to write a story set within Africa and she needed some names of exotic places and people...

It would be an adventure-romance...

 _ **( note: The 1912 novel by Burroughs created an exceptional example of an idealized, fierce-yet-noble, iconoclastic male figure, with few physical or psychological flaws... In the novel and several dozen sequels, he made subtle comments about the society of the times... With the Movies came the action, the adventure and the romance... )**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Sister Tsunami wrote back suggesting the jungle on Africa's west coast as the setting, as they were still largely unexplored, at the moment...

She had also suggested the name Tarzan, said to mean 'White skin'...

Susami liked it cause it was so close to lord Tenchi's name...

She smiled as Washu chuckled and set the papers back on the desk...

She even wiped the corner of her eye...

Turning, she started to say something, but shook her head instead...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu sighed and smiled, the tired look on Sasami's face said it was time for a certain young lady to go to bed, whether she wanted to or not...

Opening the door, she smiled and gestured to Sasami...

Sighing, Sasami picked up the lamp, handed it to Washu and then proceeded to exit the room...

It had been a long and exciting day...

The sunrise promised even more excitement and new experiences...

With the new young lord around, things promised to be any thing but dull from now on...

She had also seen the look in her sister and Ryoko's eyes...

Ever since they'd met, they had been at odds over some thing...

Who got to ride the new horse first, who got the last bun at dinner or who could out do who at some thing...

It livened up the boring country days...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Sasami knew that it wasn't about different social classes, cause most of those in the know knew that it was **Lady** Washu Hakubi of Inisfree...

A little something that went with the Victoria Cross the Queen had awarded her late husband...

Few knew that Inisfree, Ireland was her home town and that her small estate was being cared for by her good friend Lady 'the widow' Sarah Tillane...

But working for the Earl not only provided a better income than the title, it was a better environment for raising her two young girls...

Sasami looked up to Washu, as she did her mother, aunt and grandmother...

In fact Washu was one of the few, outside the family, who could stand up to her grandmother, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai...

Turning the corner ahead of Washu, Sasami led the way down the passage to her room...

She couldn't wait for the morning to come...

She wondered just how fast LORD Tenchi could run?...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Back outside the secret room... )**

Sasami and Washu were unaware that they had not been alone the whole time...

A dark figure had heard every word and as Washu turn the corner with the lantern, they had quietly slipped into the room...

Striking a match, Minaho Masaki Jurai smiled...

The room was just as she remembered it...

She had followed Washu to see if she could still get around in the old passages...

They were just as she remembered them, Washu had kept them 'clean' for the Earl...

But she allowed the old moss to remain, it tended to glow slightly, allowing those with good eyesight to move about without the need of a candle...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Finding the candle and holder, she lite it, allowing her to see better...

This also let her see the stack of papers she'd heard mentioned earlier...

As she read it she smiled and years of correcting not only Tenchi and Tennyo's grammar, but their father's as well, came into play...

 _ **OH MY!...**_

If Tenchi read this his nose would bleed for at least week...

But it did seem to sound a lot like the Tenchi that she believed was deep within him...

It also sounded a lot like her two brothers...

They had gotten into mischief in their youth and both had tales of wild adventure after joining the military and travelling the world...

But no matter what mischief the three of them got into when they were younger, they had always protected her...

She missed them both...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

She just had to smile...

If the description of the two female in the story was drawn from the two she saw earlier, it seem that Tenchi's live was about to change once more...

Growing up in Boston, Tenchi's experience with females had been limited pretty much to her, his sister Tennyo and his cousin Mayuka...

Most of the family lived out on the edge of Boston, but his father's work had them living in town...

In the 'middle class' part of town...

While she had taught he and the girls manners and such, dealing with English life was some thing she hadn't gotten to, yet...

But she had confidence in him...

There was much of her brothers in him...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

She smiled and sighed...

Putting the papers back, she blew out the candle and closing her eyes, letting them adjust to the dark...

She would get with Sasami later and offer to help her out with her story...

When she reopened them, it was still dark, but the moss on the walls allowed her to 'see'...

When her mother first showed her the passages, she'd told her it was fairy magic that lite the way...

Exiting the room, she started on her way back to her room in the dark...

She smiled, this took her back to her younger years, when she use to play in these passages...

It was really good to be home...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London... )**

It was late, after dark, the Earl was at his desk, studying some documents...

The motion of the door opening caught his eye and he looked up from his papers...

The butler entered and waited a moment...

" **Mi, Lord...** "

Then he paused, most unlike him...

As the Earl's eyes narrowed, the butler seem to look behind himself before continuing...

" **Her Ladyship... Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai...** "

That explained the butler's nervousness, his sister...

Most of the members of the House of Lords were scared of her...

Many of them for very good reasons...

She was also a very close adviser to the Queen...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Stepping aside, the butler bowed his head...

And an elegant looking female entered the room and smiled at the Earl...

The butler quietly and quickly exited, closing the door quietly behind him...

The Earl sighed and wished he could have escaped too...

Standing there, it would be hard for any one who was to just meet her to guess that she was the Earl's sister and only a few years younger...

In her 64 years, she let nether people nor things effect her...

He eyed the spot behind her, usually occupied by what she loved to refer to as 'her other half'...

Sir Utsutsumi Kamiki, lord Kamiki, her husband of several decades now...

And also why they seldom spoke any more...

Elbows on the desk, fingers interlocked, he rested his chin on them...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

He had a good idea why she was here, but waited for her to make the first move...

" **What?... No offer of a seat?...** "

A smile crossed his lips...

Her tongue was sharper than any blade, as many a Lord had learned over the years, to their regret...

" **You mean I have a choice?...** "

One of his eye brows went up, as if surprised...

Her reply was to smile and to sit in the chair directly in front of him...

A flick of her wrist and she opened a fan, some thing she picked up on her last trip to Japan some years before...

 **NOW** , she was ready to get down to business...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The Jurai Kitchen... )**

Washu stood to the side and sighed...

Young officer Mihoshi, wearing one of lady Ayeka's nightgowns and robes, was sitting at the kitchen table smiling at the small loaf of bread, stuffed with leftovers from dinner...

A late night snack Washu had fixed for her...

Washu had found her wandering around the kitchen, looking for some to eat...

Washu had heard about this from her grandfather, but this was her first experience with it...

As she was a guest, Washu had managed to put some thing together...

The loaf was sliced into a dozen equal sections...

Smiling, Mihoshi picked up one of the sections and began to eat, a large glass of fresh milk in her other hand...

Washu sighed, it seem that she was going to have to tuck another young lady in before she could call it a night...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Buckingham Palace... )**

A mature female sat at a large desk studying a series of pictures taken by her security men, for her...

These new, almost 'instant' pictures were a great improvement over having to sit still for several minutes...

As long as the subject wasn't moving too much, you could get a reasonable image of it or them...

These were of a young boy, also the three females and two adult males travelling with him...

According to her reports, this was the son of the Earl of Jurai's youngest daughter, who had died in America some years before...

As the Earl had not approved of the marriage, they had not spoken in years...

Her Majesty, Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, had reason to believe both the marriage and her death effected him greatly...

He had turned his attentions to matters of State about that time and left most family matters to themselves...

The disappearance of his oldest daughter later hadn't helped...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

An argument with his lady, Airi Masaki Jurai at the time of the marriage, had left the two not talking to each other ever since...

His two son had both been in the military and both were stationed far away...

The lose of one had hurt, but with the death of the other some hard decisions had to be made...

In the end there was only one heir left, one person who could inherit the title...

That had been the young boy of his youngest daughter, born and raised in the colonies...

What kind of a person was he and would he be up to the position he must one day step into...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

According to the reports the party had stayed their first night in the country in London...

Catching the early train North in the morning...

One of the Earl's carriages had then picked them up at the station and taken them out to Jurai Manor...

There they were welcome by the Earl's staff, under lady Hakubi...

She was quite pleased...

The Earl's absence might have raised questions if she didn't already know the cause...

With the title in question, certain people, in very low places, saw an opportunity...

And what effected the Earl tended to effect the crown...

After all, he was in the line of succession for the throne...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The Earl's residence... )**

It had only been minutes, but as usual it seem like hours, since lady Seto entered his den...

Both had just sat there and stared at each other...

As usual, it was the Earl who blinked first...

He had more important matters to attend to than this...

He was sure she was smiles behind that fan, a reason she had taken to using it, it hid any facial reactions...

As she closed the fan, he saw that she was smiling...

" **Well... Yosho, what do you think about your new heir?...** "

She was one of the few who used his first name and this caught him off guard...

Family had never come up in any of the very few conversation they had in the past few years...

" **Don't know... Haven't met him yet... Certain matters dragged me to London...** "

He turned to look across the room...

Portraits of both his sons, in their dress military uniforms hung on the wall...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Lady Seto hid a smile, she was well aware of what matters he was referring to and who...

But she had been at the hotel when the party had arrived and watch at the lawyer got their keys and signed them in, quietly...

There had been the boy, slightly nervous, looking at all the new things around him...

An older male who must have been his father, also looking around...

Then there were the two young girls who were doing their best to get the two males to stop staring and move...

They must be the boy's sister and cousin...

It had been the smiling face of the 3rd older female who caught her eye...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

It may have been many years, but Seto recognized the face of her niece, Minaho Masaki Jurai...

So this was where she had been all those years...

It also explained why her sister-in-law, the Earl's lady, just smiled when asked about her oldest daughter...

She considered telling her older brother, but decide it was Minaho's decision...

" **Should I drop by and check him out?...** "

This caused him to smile, was the boy up to having the infamous Lady Seto turned loose on him...

His lawyer had spoke in glowing terms about the boy, perhaps a detail study was in order...

" **By all means... Feel free to drop by and look him over, I'd like to hear your opinion...** "

Lady Seto smiled, that aside, it was time to get to the real reason she was here...

" **Now!... About this little matter you mentioned...** "

The Earl smiled, he figured this had been her main reason for coming by and without her 'other-half''...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Buckingham Palace... )**

Her Majesty studied the long report on the Masaki party...

The boy, his father, sister and cousin...

But it was the 'nanny' who caught her eye...

Some quiet research had answered her question, who was she?...

So this was where the Earl's oldest daughter had been all these years...

It explained much...

Mostly why Lady Airi Masaki Jurai hadn't been tearing up every continent trying to find her...

She had joined her sister's family to help take care of her children...

Perhaps after they all got settled in, she would drop by, again...

She smiled at the thought...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The Jurai Kitchen... )**

Washu smiled and shook her head as she watch several female members of the staff help the sleeping lady Mihoshi to her feet and on her way to bed...

Having finished the 'snack' she had stretched and then rested her head on her arms on the table...

She was asleep before Washu realized what was happening...

She considered leaving her there, but what to do in the morning?...

They'd never get any thing done with her sitting there...

She almost lost it when Mihoshi cuddled up to one of the girls and whispered...

" **Oh... Lord Tenchi... You're such a naughty boy...** "

Then she began to giggle...

Both girls stared at Washu...

" **NOT!... A!... WORD!...** "

Both nodded and proceeded to carry the snoring officer up to her room...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu was pretty sure the two would keep this to themselves...

Just about every member of the staff had seen lady Ayeka and Ryoko's reaction to the new Earl...

This had 'bloodshed' written all over it and it would be THEIR job to clean up the mess...

As the three disappeared, Washu dropped into her chair at the end of the table...

Taking a deep breath, she did a quick mental check of all the things needing to be done...

To her surprise she found that every thing was done...

She might be able to go long periods without sleep, it wasn't some thing she would recommend...

Getting up, she sighed as she headed towards her room...

Tomorrow was a new day, with new problems...

She looked at the clock on the shelf and smiled...

But that was at-least 6-8 hours away...

She exited the kitchen...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

If she knew what was happening else where in the manor, she might wish dawn was several hundred hours away...

Up stairs a dark haired female was cuddling up to one of her pillows, a big smile on her face...

And down the hall, in another room, a light haired female was also cuddling up to a pillow, a wicked smile on her face...

Almost at the same time, they both sighed and whispered ever so softly...

" **Oh... Lord Tenchi... You're such a naughty boy...** "

In both rooms, younger sisters smiled and giggled softly, they were looking forward to the new day too...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

To be continued...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	6. Chapter 6

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **chapter -06... Morning...**

( **Jurai Manor...** )

As was her custom, Washu was in the kitchen early supervising the staff as they readying things for the day...

Yesterday had been a bit more hectic than she had planned on...

Besides the arrival of the new young lord, the Earl's oldest daughter had also returned home, suddenly and very unannounced...

It seem that she had been over in the colonies this whole time, acting as a nanny for her late sister's children...

It had been her mother who had suggested it, when they met her brother-in-law at the hospital...

And he would be the only one to know who she really was...

It would serve a dual purpose, care for the children and give her time to forgive her father, whom she blamed for chasing her dearest little sister away...

In a way, she also blamed him for her death...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

She had managed to get Washu alone and discuss a few things...

Like if there was any one, besides Washu who might recognize her?...

Do to her father's disposition and staff turn over, there were probably very few people, from her younger years who knew her, still working for him...

This was to be her nephew's day, not hers and if she were to be recognized it could be spoiled...

As it turned out, most of the regular staff was in London with her father, with only a small skeleton staff here...

And the few family members there were too new and young to have known her, much less remember her...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Not to mention her not wanting her father, the Earl, to know she had returned...

She had forgiven her father during her stay with her sister's family...

She loved her father, but like her mother, she had supported her sister's choice...

Even if he was an 'American', he was the only one, outside the family, to ever get her to smile...

And even more important, get her to laugh...

Her mother had once said it was the reason why she had married the Earl...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Besides who cared that an ancestor had once taken the wrong road and thus not gotten to Yorktown with reinforcements until AFTER general Cornwallis had surrendered?...

She'd gone with her mother to visit them when they got word that she was sick...

( _**A lot of people got sick during the blizzard of '85 in New York...**_ )

They had managed to spend a short time with her sister...

And her sister told them that she had forgiven their father long ago...

Her little sister had asked her to forgive their father, before she passed away, quietly in her sleep...

But it had taken a while before she was able to say, she forgave him...

She too was stubborn...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( the manor kitchen... )**

All at once, one of the girls assigned to assist the new young lord rushed into the kitchen...

Coming to a stop, she had to catch her breath...

Finally, as the rest of the staff waited and watched, she spoke...

" **Ma'am... Gone!... He's Gone!...** "

Washu sighed and took a slow, deep breath to remain calm...

" **Calm down Mary!...** "

The young girl nodded as she panted...

" **Now...** "

Washu paused for a moment...

" **Who's gone?...** "

Trying to follow Washu's example, the girl manager to calm herself and point up-stair...

" **Himself be gone!... The young lord!...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The staff was silent as they all looked at Washu...

Washu sighed and managed to keep any trace of panic from her voice...

" **Calm down Mary... Tell us exactly what happen**!... "

The young girl caught her breath and managed to calm down...

" **I wince up to his lordship room to wake him, as you told me too...** "

Washu nodded her head, but didn't say any thing...

" **I knocked on the door, but got no reply...** "

Again, nothing...

" **Thinkin' he be still asleep I quietly entered with me lamp to check on him an' wake him...** "

The young girl looked at the other members of the staff...

" **But he weren't there!...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu sighed but didn't say any thing, she could see the concern on the staff's face...

Less than 24 hours and the new young lord had been misplaced?...

" **His bed be made, as if he hadn't even been there...** "

That raised an eyebrow...

Washu closed her eyes and sighed...

She had made sure to check on him before calling it a night...

And he had been there, under the pile of covers that were there to keep him warm on these chilly nights...

She had been very careful not to wake him...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu wasn't sure if she should ask the girl some more questions or send out a search party...

It was then that she heard a soft chuckle for across the room...

The staff moved so she could see the small figure sitting at the table, looking through several large cook books...

" **He's OK... He just got up early...** "

Some how Washu wasn't surprised that young lady Sasami would be the one to know something...

She was oh-so like her mother and her Grandmother...

She hadn't even looked up...

There were times Washu tended to believed that Sasami might have 'the Sight', that gift of knowing things...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Even with every eye in the room on her as Sasami continued to look through the cook books...

It was Washu who broke the silence...

" **And where, pray tell, might he be?...** "

Smiling, Sasami now looked up...

" **I would guess he's still on top of the old North tower!...** "

The question slipped from Washu's tongue on it's own...

" **And why would he be up there so early?...** "

Washu could now see Sasami's eyes dancing...

" **Well... That would be the best spot to watch the sun rise in the early morning...** "

One question down, and a dozen more raised...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu sighed...

" **And how might you happen to know this?...** "

It wasn't little Sasami's eyes Washu was looking into, it was lady Seto's...

" **Because I told him it was the best place, when he asked me!...** "

No one said any thing, none dared...

Some how Washu seem to know the answer to her next question even before she asked it...

" **And when did you happen to tell him this?...** "

Washu had been with him almost from his getting off the carriage to seeing him tucked in to his bed, with his sister...

Sasami tilted her head slightly, but continued to smile...

" **When I came down stair early this morning...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Sasami took her time answering...

" **I found him wandering around looking for a way up to the top of the manor...** "

She paused, as if considering something...

" **He wanted to see if the sun rises here was as beautiful as his mother had once told him they were, when he was little...** "

Washu could almost hear pride in Sasami's voice as she said that...

" **I led him to the foot of the tower stairs and gave him a small lantern... I then watched him climb them for a while before I came down here...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

At that Sasami returned to her books, looking for something special to fix...

Seeing every one frozen, Washu clapped her hands...

" **Alright, every one... Back to work... Back to work...** "

At that every one returned to what they had been doing...

The silence of the last few minutes, gone...

Washu smiled as she noticed the young girl still standing there...

" **Mary... I'm going to fix a small tray... You'll take it and a mug of milk up to his lordship...** "

The girl nodded her head...

" **Then ask him if he would be joining the others for breakfast?...** "

After a moment she continued...

" **Also see if he needs any help getting back to the great hall?...** "

The young girl smiled and nodded her head...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Later... )**

On top of what he had been told was the old North tower, Tenchi was sitting on a weathered stone block that seem to serve as a seat...

The sun rise had been as beautiful as his mother had said it was...

And it seem to be just the way to start off his first day, of his new life, in his new surroundings...

" **Hummm...** "

Turning, he saw a young girl in a staff uniform standing next to the tower door...

She seem to be carrying a tray in one hand and a mug in the other...

She also seem to be waiting, so he gestured her over...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

As she got closer, he saw that it was a tray, with a white cloth covering it...

Taking the offered mug, he discovered it had milk in it, just what he needed at the moment...

The girl remover the cloth to reveal what appeared to be a sandwich that had been cut into small single bite size pieces...

Back in the states, when ever they had guest over, his sister and the others would fix these...

Choosing one he popped it into his mouth...

He smiled, it was quite tasty...

The milk was refreshing too...

What was that phrase his uncle had used at that elegant Boston restaurant they went to for his father's last birthday?...

 _ **Ah, yes!...**_

" **My complements to the chief...** "

The girl smiled...

She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but she would tell lady Washu...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **Your lordship...** "

Tenchi turned his head to face her...

As he smiled and nodded his head she continued...

" **Lady Washu ask if you would be joining the others for breakfast and if you might need help finding the great hall?...** "

She was a bit nervous, the upper class usually didn't like to admit that they got lost...

Smiling, Tenchi closed his eyes and reviewed the 'blue print' he was creating in his head...

Having an excellent memory, he had done floor plans in his head since he was little, sitting there, watching his father create his...

After a moment he opened his eyes and smiled...

" **At the bottom of the stairs take a right, go down the hallway to the end... Turn left and the great hallway is behind the pair of large doors at the other end of the hallway...** "

The girl's eyes lite up and she smiled, nodding her head...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Finishing off the milk, Tenchi handed the mug back to the young girl...

Then taking the cloth, he put the few remaining bites in it and folded it, leaving her the empty tray...

" **Please inform lady Washu that I SHALL be down shortly... And that I will be joining every one for breakfast...** "

As she turned to go he chuckled...

" **However... If I am late, do have her send you, as it appears you are quite able of locating me if I get lost...** "

Tenchi managed to hide his smile as he watched the young lady glow almost as bright as the sun rise...

Quickly bowing to him she managed to get inside the doorway before gasping...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Smiling, Tenchi stepped to the battlement and began looking around, getting a 'lay of the land'...

He noted where the stables were located...

He could also see the road that they'd traveled up the day before to get here...

A good distance down it was the 'gate house' and the gate to the estate...

He noted that there were also several 'back roads' leading away from the manor house in the other direction...

Probably to other sections of the estate...

His father would call it recording the outside landscape...

He could use it to help him get around the estate...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Back "home", he'd examined the area around the building they were living...

Knowing the neighborhood was quite helpful when he need to get around...

It was something he'd picked up while living at his father's family home...

His grandfather had been a general with the Union forces during the war of southern 'Aggression'...

His father had been a drummer boy in his father's unit during the war, but didn't talk about it, at all...

Like many families, not all of the members had been on the 'winning' side...

There were still a few members, who'd been on the other side, who still referred to it as the war of southern 'Secession'...

At a recent family reunion, a number of his uncles and grand-uncles has come close to starting the war up again...

Only when his grandmother, aunts and grand-aunts stepped in was peace restored, with a general withdraw of ALL males present...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Below... )**

As the young girl reached the bottom of the stairs. a female stepped around the corner, carrying a small lantern...

Mary didn't recall who she was at first, but then remembered seeing her being helped from the carriage by the young lord...

Tennyo looked at the mug and tray that the young girl was carrying and smiled...

" **Would you perhaps know where Tenchi... Excuse me, where the young lord might be?...** "

Mary had heard that one of the two females with his lordship was his sister, while the other was a cousin...

No one had pointed out which was which, so she lowered her head...

" **His lordship b on the roof... At da top of da stairs... Do ye wish me to return n' let him 'now ye wish to see 'm?... Ye ladyship?...** "

When nervous her tongue reverted to the northern Wales one she'd spent the past year trying to get away from...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Tennyo smiled and shook her head...

Climbing three floors of stairs wasn't her idea of how to start the day...

And the young girl had already been up once, no need for a repeat...

" **Did he perhaps give a hint as to when he might be rejoining us?...** "

The young girl smiled and spoke slowly...

" **His lordship ask me to inform lady Washu that e' would be down fer breakfast with the others...** "

Tennyo nodded and moved aside to let the girl continue down the hallway...

If staff here was like back in the states, there were lots of things waiting to be done, just to start the day...

" **Inform lady Washu that I shall be joining her shortly myself...** "

The young girl nodded her head and continued down the hallway...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

When the light the girl was holding disappeared in the darkness, Tennyo spoke up...

" **Will you be joining us also or will you too remain in the shadows... Auntie?...** "

Chuckling softly, Minaho, the Earl's oldest daughter stepped into the light of Tennyo's lantern...

" **How long have you known?...** "

Tennyo smiled...

" **Suspected for some time... From an old picture of mom and an older girl... A sister?...** "

Tennyo paused...

" **Known?... Only after I over heard you tell dad on the train that you needed to slip away when we got to the manor... To be sure no one might recognized you before you contacted your mother...** "

Then she smiled...

" **Of course, the large family portraits in the main hall helped too...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Minaho sighed...

" **Think Tenchi suspects?...** "

A soft calm voice from behind them answered...

" **Does Tenchi suspect, what?...** "

Both females turned to find young lord Tenchi standing on the stairs, a small lantern in his hand...

Before ether could reply, Tenchi continued, smiling...

" **Does he suspect that his nanny, of so many years, is actually his mother's older sister?...** "

Both Minaho and Tennyo looked at each other and then back at him...

" **Last year when I came down with that flu, you really shouldn't have sworn that you were not going to lose you sister's child to the same fever that took her...** "

He paused...

" **At least not while standing next to their bed...** "

Both females stared at him...

" **It seems being sick doesn't prevent you hearing things...** "

He turn to his sister...

" **Like a confession about putting caster oil in some one's soup at dinner to get them to have to spend the night running out into the cold night to use the outhouse...** "

Tennyo's face turned red...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

After a while Tennyo sighed...

" **So... What now?...** "

Tenchi smiled...

But before he could reply a noise drew their attention down the darken hall way...

" **Clang!... Clang!... Clang!...** "

Tenchi and Tennyo turned to Minaho, who sighed...

" **It appears we have some one at the front door...** "

There was a pause before she continued...

" **And most, if not all the staff are in the kitchen at the moment...** "

Tenchi smile as he turned to face down the darken hallway to the front door...

" **It would be rude to keep them waiting...** "

He offered each female an arm...

" **Shall we?...** "

Each taking an arm, the two smiling female allowed him to lead them...

And the three disappeared into the darkened hall, Tennyo holding the small lantern...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( A nearby manor... )**

A young female sat at the side of a bed with a young boy asleep on it...

Kiriko Masaki had promised young Seina Yamada's mother that she would keep an eye on him and keep him safe...

Their trip from up North had been long and tiring...

And Seina had gotten little sleep...

When they got here she managed to get him to 'rest' for a while...

He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow...

On the trip, she had been truly amazed at how calm he had been...

Most of his life she recalled how hyper active he'd been and how many things seem to happen to him...

By slowing down it seem fewer things tended to happen to him...

Their entire trip had been so quiet...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

No problems, no accidents, nothing out of the ordinary had happen...

Well, there had been the waiter who had tripped and gotten soup all over the male at the table next to them at the restaurant...

Kiriko thought they should get something to eat after their long trip and before heading to his family's local manor house...

Easier to get some thing to eat, as most of the staff was up North with his mother or in London with his father...

While Seino hadn't heard what the male and his two female companions were chatting about, Kiriko had...

About some colonial brat that a local Earl had transported clear across the ocean to continue his blood lines...

The male joked about what kind of uncouth brat the 'American' would be...

She wasn't too happy, her family had long ties to the Jurai family...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Kiriko knew well the list of tragedies that had befallen the Jurai family...

The younger daughter's break away from the family to marry an "american"...

The Earl's wife then siding with her daughter and then being at odds with the Earl ever since, the two still living apart...

Then there was the death of their younger daughter about a decade ago, followed by the disappearance of the Earl's older daughter soon after...

Since then, both of his sons had died serving in the military...

Serving crown and country could be costly...

His oldest and his heir, had died not too long ago...

So, the Earl's closest blood heir **WAS** his younger daughter's only son...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Kiriko smiled As she recalled the young male's face as the two females giggled at him sitting there covered in soup...

It wasn't what she wanted to do to him, but it would do...

Rumors had it there were some large untapped resources under the Juraian Estate...

And she had reason to believe the young male's family was one of those waiting for the old Earl to 'kick-off"...

Another flock of vultures circling the Juraian Estate...

As daylight entered the room, Kiriko looked down on Seino's face...

He had a very long day ahead of him...

And it would soon be time to wake him up to face that day...

She couldn't help smiling...

But for now she would let him sleep, as there was still time...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The front door... )**

In the light of the small lantern Tenchi looked at the door and wondered how to open it, as there was no door knob like back 'home'...

Smiling, Minaho stepped forward and grasp the large door handle...

As she pulled on it, the door seem to grown loudly in protest of being opened...

Tenchi wasn't sure if it was him or the hall it's self that seem to amplify the noise the door was making...

Reaching over, he got a hold on the handle and helped Minaho pull...

To his surprise, it wasn't as hard as he had thought...

With the door open they could see several figures standing on the top of the steps, looking at them...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

As his eyes adjusted to the brighter light outside, Tenchi could make out more details...

There were three well dressed mature females standing there, looking at him...

Tenchi's up bringing took over without thinking, he smiled and bowed his head slightly...

" **Good morning ladies... And how may I be of service?...** "

He heard some one giggle softly behind him, but didn't turn around...

The two closest females smiled slightly while the third showed no signs of emotions at all...

Though the white in their hair suggested age, the twinkle in their eyes and way they smiled tended to suggest a little older than his father...

And that was as far as he was willing to go on that subject...

It was one of those 'facts of life' that his sister and female cousin taught him about when he was much younger...

When he over guessed their ages, they beat him up...

As it was, he couldn't help notice how their eyes seem to be studying him...

And then there was something about those smiles...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The one with just a touch of black in her hair reached over and gently stroked Tenchi's cheek...

" **You were right... He is oh so cute!...** "

From the various giggling behind him he knew that both females were really enjoying ever second of this...

The female with what appeared to be a touch of green(?) in her hair sighed...

" **Well, it has been a while... And then he has grown a lot...** "

This caught Tenchi off guard, but she continued before he could reply...

" **You have done quite well bring him up, Minaho...** "

He found his aunt's reply enlightening...

" **Yes, Mother...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **To be continued...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	7. Chapter 7

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Chapter -07 ... Family...**

 **( Jurai townhouse, London... )**

It was early morning and the Earl of Jurai was at his desk...

The sun had only been up for a short time, but he had gotten an early start today...

To some the quote that 'a man's home was his castle' was just that, but the Earl's Manor home still had a good part of the original stone castle remaining...

And at the moment, he found himself up on those battlements, defending his domain from those who had other uses for it...

Across from him was one of his men-at-arms, his trusted lawyer, lord Manchester...

He had arrived a short while before and joined the Earl in going over a number of legal papers with him...

They would need to have every thing in order for the House of Lords in a week...

That was when he was to present his new heir...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Usually such things were simple matters, but this time there was quite a bit at stake...

In fact, quite a few fortunes, if the cards were played right...

To think that just a year ago every thing was so simple...

But that was when a young girl's exploring of an old cave on the estate could turn their life upside down...

In a hard to reach tunnel, she had found some odd black rocks which she had then shown to her mother...

Her mother, after some tests and some rechecking, had then quietly informed the Earl that there was a good chance that there was a deposit of coal under his estate...

Further more, from the samples, it was a very large and rich deposit...

As the Earl had no interest in strip mining his estate, he had put the information away for future reference and sworn those who knew to silence...

However, a secret known to more than one seldom remained a secret long...

It seem that rumors had gotten around...

 _ **( Perhaps informing Buckingham Palace hadn't been a wise idea after all... )**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The recent loss of his heir had badly shaken the very foundations of the family...

Therefore a new heir had to be found before the wolves and vultures at the door got it...

That had been when he had to reconsider some of his past actions and perhaps try to put decades of emotions aside...

He had to make it quite clear to every one that the young son of his youngest daughter WAS his recognized heir...

And it didn't matter where he was born, even if it was across the 'pond', in the colonies...

( _**Known to the rest of the world as the United States of America...**_ )

Especially considering the long list of comments he had made in the past about those same 'Americans'...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Then his younger daughter met that young architect from Boston he'd thought nothing of it...

However, when she later announced that she had fell in love with him, THAT was a different matter...

And his opinion of the 'Colonials', as his family had called them for countless generations, didn't change...

In fact, his opinion of them, especially the males, tended to drop even more...

The Earl had been brought up with strict family values and traditions, he put his foot down, demanding she never see him again...

But she too could be stubborn, as she followed her heart and defied her father's wishes...

She left her home and family, running off to marry the young man who could not only made her laugh, but could make her smile...

The Earl's reaction had been simple, he disown her, which tended to caused a rather large rift within his family...

As it was, he hadn't spoken more than a few words with several members of his family, among them Lady Jurai, since the daughter's death a decade before...

All because of his stubbornness and pride...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

He had reason to believe that both his sons had disagreed with his treatment of their youngest sister, but they hadn't say any thing...

They had been brought up with him as the head of the house and that his word was law...

For better or worse...

Looking back, he realized that perhaps their accepting those over-seas military positions may have been their way of trying to avoid any conflict with him...

Thus leading to where ever thing stood today...

Now, for better or worst, his line-of-secession would be continued by a young male who was born 'over there'...

Strange, the tricks that fate tended to play on you...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

He had just finish reading the official announcement for the third time, trying to catch any possible problems, when it happen...

He stopped what he was doing and just stared at the wall...

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up...

When it passed,He looked around the room...

But there was no one there but his lawyer...

A servant had brought a couple of cups of tea, but had already left...

So, why did he suddenly feel like he was going to need a bottle of brandy?...

And all because he thought he heard two words?...

" **Yes, Mother...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **(** **Near Nottingham, the Jurai Manor...** **)**

The front doors of the manor were open and a number of unusual people were standing there, looking at each other...

A young male stood in the open doorway wondering what he should do next...

Young Lord Tenchi Masaki had only arrived here 24 hours before and he was trying to get adjusted to his new 'home'...

Several weeks before he would have never have guessed he would be playing doorman at such an elegant estate here in England...

Inside, behind him, was his older sister, Tennyo Masaki and his aunt, Minaho Masaki Jurai, who had been his and his sister's nanny for the past decade...

For some reason, it was the three rather elegant older females standing out side that had his attention...

Especially the one his aunt had just called " **Mother...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Though it seem like a life time, it was only a moment before a soft firm voice broke the stillness...

" **Oh, my... What's this I find on our doorstep?...** "

Tenchi turn to see Washu step out of the shadows behind his sister and up next to him in the doorway...

" **Sasami said we had guest!...** "

As Tenchi was about to say something, Washu smiled and put a finger to his lips...

She watched as Tennyo and Minaho stepped up to join Tenchi just inside the doorway, each taking an arm, protectively...

Minaho, because she knew exactly **WHO** these three were and Tennyo, because she didn't...

The other four females just watched and smiled...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Seeing that Minaho wasn't going to say any thing, Washu spoke up...

She turn to Tenchi and Tennyo, as they were new here...

She gestured to the female with the a touch of green(?) in her hair...

" **Tenchi, Tennyo... I would like to introduce you to...** "

But it was Tenchi who finished for her...

" **Her ladyship, Airi Masaki Jurai... Minaho's mother and the Earl's lady... "**

He saw her eyebrow go up...

" **Some thing Minaho said a moment ago...** "

He smiled before continuing...

" **As well as her portrait in the Library, with the Earl...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

On the boat, the family had sat down and discussed things...

Minaho, with their father's backing, had suggested that until Tenchi actually met the Earl and been officially accepted, he should refer to him by his title...

'Grandfather!' would have to wait a while...

Just another of those 'British/English' things he would have to learn about as time went by...

Having an English background, every one tended to deferred to her better judgement...

Tenchi suspected that there were still some things in the past that had gone unmentioned, by her or their father...

But like the others, he trusted her with his life...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( After a life time... )**

Washu smiled and though it best not to mention that her ladyship had been estranged from Earl for almost a decade nor why...

After the short pause, Washu continued...

She gestured to the female with a touch of dark streaks in her white hair...

" **Then may I present, Lady Funaho Masaki Jurai, the Earl's older sister...** "

 _ **And also estranged from the Earl...**_

Tenchi bowed slightly and lady Funaho smiled, but said nothing...

Before continuing Washu looked around for the third female's other half, lord Utsutsumi Kamiki...

It was seldom that you saw one without the other these days...

That he wasn't here tended to, as they say, speak volumes...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Nether made a comment as the two came eye-to-eye...

But the ever so slight nod of the head told Washu all she needed to know...

" **And last, but not least... Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai, the Earl's other and younger sister...** "

Again Tenchi bowed as best he could, a strong female on each arm...

For some reason Tenchi thought he heard Washu chuckle before continuing...

" **Ladies... My I present young Tenchi Masaki of America... Soon to be Lord Tenchi Masaki Jurai, the future 18th Earl of Jurai and at the moment your host and head of the house...** "

Tenchi didn't see what the other females could, a very wicked smile form on her lips as she continued...

" **And my future favorite guinea pig!...** "

All five ladies eyes shined as they **ALL** looked in her direction...

His eyes closed, Tenchi missed that part...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Just outside Nottingham... )**

A young boy and older girl stood on the house doorsteps as a carriage approached them...

The boy looked towards town...

" **No smoke... No loud noises... Are you sure Mihoshi's in town**?... "

23 year old Kiyone Makibi knew that the young boy loved his cousin dearly and was one of the few who could kid her about her luck...

Because she sometimes would kid him about his own luck...

14 year old Seina Yamada was considered one of the unluckiest people in all of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

Next to his 19 year old cousin, Mihoshi Kuramitsu...

Kiyone smiled as she answered...

" **She has been assigned to the Earl's household as security...** "

She didn't say more as she didn't KNOW more, but she had some ideas, due to rumors...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **You mean due to the arrival of the Earl's grandson from America and his being name the Earl's heir?...** "

One of Kiyone's eyebrows went up as she turned to him...

" **How?...** "

Seina smiled as he tilted his head slightly, looking back at her...

" **My eyes may have been closed, but my brain and ears were still open...** "

Kiyone had thought him resting on the train, but she did recall some nearby conversations about the Earl's new 'Heir'...

She hadn't paid it much attention as it was all old news to her, but it seems that Seina had been paying attention...

" **Do you believe there's a buried treasure on the estate too?...** "

This time both her eyebrows went up...

 _ **What treasure?...**_

Smiling Seina looked past the town, towards the Earl's estate beyond...

Perhaps he could get Kiyone to take him out to see his cousin...

And the new heir?...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Buckingham Palace... )**

Alexandrina Victoria looked out the window at the court yard and the changing of the gate guard...

She never seem to get tired of watching it...

As Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, it was there to protect her, just as it had been to protect her father and his father before him...

She some times wondered what her life would have been if any of her uncle had managed to produce an heir...

Like the Earl of Jurai's young grandson, she too had never been considered too seriously for the position she now held, early on...

What would it have been like to just be another English lady, with her dearest Albert at her side...

Would she still have had such a large family and so many grandchildren?...

She wondered what her newest subject thought of his new home?...

She smiled as she wondered what he thought about being surrounded by all those females?...

Perhaps **WE** should pay our newest subject a visit...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

A slight noise behind her brought her back to the present and the meeting...

Captain Kanemitsu Hirata stood there, waiting for her majesty to make the first move...

He was just back from the Far-East and had standing orders to report directly to the palace and make a verbal report, no written documentation...

He had not expected to be reporting to her majesty directly...

" **Ahh, Captain... Your report?...** "

He wasn't sure why he'd been ordered to do it this way, there wasn't that much to it, one page would have covered it all...

 _ **But his was not to reason why...**_

It was the second half than made him nervous...

 _ **( Ours is but to do or die!... )**_

Or was that ' do AND die?...

Right now he wasn't too sure he wanted to know the answer...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **Your Majesty... Recently Mr. A. J. Zijlker, the Dutch manager of the East Sumatra Tobacco Company, tried his hands in the oil exploration area... And it seems his venture was successful...** "

He paused for a moment...

" **For the most part, this wouldn't effect us or be reported beyond being a new source of oil...** "

He paused again, making sure he worded the next part carefully...

" **It is our understanding that he acquired his funding for the project for an old acquaintance of his... The Earl of Jurai...** "

Again he paused for any reaction, getting none, he continued...

" **The concession to the oil-bearing-land was obtained from the Sultan of Langkat, who is another acquaintance of the Earl... And we understand that it was the Earl's involvement that caused the Sultan to decided on Mr. Zijiker, over a request by Lord Kagato's oil company...** "

He didn't see a twinkle in her majesty's eyes as she heard this...

The Kagatos were a very high aristocratic family and a real pain in the house of Lords...

They had tried several times to marry into the royal family, which she had managed to avoid...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

As for the Jurai, the Earl had originally been fifteenth when she came to the throne...

After the birth of her fifth child, a messenger had been sent to inform him that he was now the twentieth in line...

She still remembered his reply...

 _ **Thank you for your concern and please keep up the good work... Looking forward to being twenty-fifth...**_

She just had to smile...

 _ **Yes, WE are definitely paying a surprise visit...**_

The Captain was startled when he heard her Majesty chuckle...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **(** **Near Nottingham, the Jurai Manor...** **)**

With every one concentrating on Washu, Tenchi was able to slip away from his two captures and over to the side of the door...

With all six pairs of female eyes on him, he bow slightly and gestured inside...

The next words were from his American grandfather's lips...

" **Please feel free to enter my humble home...** "

Again eyebrows went up and smiles formed...

His sister and aunt were first, followed by Washu and then his new relatives...

As he entered and closed the door, he noticed that it was now lite by candles on each side of the hallway...

He also noted that his aunt/nanny was being held tightly by Lady Jurai...

" **It's so good to see you again my dear...** "

To which Tenchi could just make out a mumbled reply...

The other three female just stood there, two smiling, while the third managed to hide any expression...

Tenchi smiled as something accrued to him...

Three more females in the house...

 _ **Didn't he have any male relatives?...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Kagato townhouse, London... )**

A canister of wine crashed into the wall...

It had the misfortune of being within reach when Lord Kagato finished the report that had just arrived for the Far-East...

His family had invested quite a bit on getting those oil field options...

And to have Lord Jurai undercut him...

It was fortuitous there were no sharp object around, as it was so very hard to find really good help these days...

He wondered if this might be the Earl's way of getting back at him for being involved with the death of the Earl's heir...

But unlike him, the Earl was of the old school, with all it's out dated rules...

While Kagato was the, sharp thrust from the shadows type...

He would have come straight at him, a saber in one hand and a revolver in the other...

And heaven help any one who got in his way...

In ether case, he knew that the Earl would be smiling when he got word of this...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

He would need to take some steps and quickly make some plans...

His source had gotten the news to him as fast as possible, but the Earl had his sources too...

With luck he might have a day or two, but no more, the world was becoming smaller by the day...

Only a few years ago, word would have take twice as long to get to him...

Reaching up, he pulled a chain hanging from the ceiling...

This would summon a servant...

As he waited, he scribbled a short note on the back of a card that was on his desk...

As he finished, the door quietly opened and a servant entered...

When the servant came to a stop a short distance away, Lord Kagato held out the card...

" **Have this card delivered to the address on the front... There will be no reply...** "

The servant said nothing as he nodded his head, took the card and left the room as quietly as he had entered it...

Kagato turned and looked out the window at the street beyond the gates with the common people going about their daily business...

 _ **So it begins...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **To be continued...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	8. Chapter 8

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **chapter -08 ... New day...**

 **(** **Near Nottingham, the Jurai Manor...** **)**

The library was crowded at the moment and not every one in the manor was awake yet...

It seem that some Guest had shown up on their door steps at sun rise and were now being 'entertained' by the "new" young lord Tenchi, his sister Tennyo and his mother's older sister, Minaho...

It would appear that his grandmother, Lady Jurai, Minaho's mother, had dropped by to meet him...

And she had brought the Earl's two sisters alone as well...

 _ **( Wild horses couldn't have kept them away... )**_

All were sipping from cups of tea and nibbling on crackers, as breakfast was still being prepared...

While the Earl's three ladies were all seated, young Tenchi was also sitting at the moment...

His sister and aunt had insisted that he sit, while they stood on ether side of him...

Sitting on a small foot stool before his chair was his young cousin, Sasami...

Also in the room were a number of female servants, serving tea and offering crackers...

Lady Washu, the head of the household, was there, over seeing every thing...

She wanted this first meeting of the families to go well for the new young lord...

She had taken a liking to him, especially after his meeting with the Masaki Ladies...

There were High Lords that started sweating when Lady Seto even looked their way...

Great military officers who do their best to avoid her...

Even the Earl himself was nervous around them...

But she had watched, with a smile, as Tenchi had welcoming them to Jurai Manor, his new home, in his grandfather's absence...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Sasami had shown up just after every one else and had greeted the three visitors in her own special way, by giving them each a big hug...

She had then sat on the stool before Tenchi and proceeded to act as a sort of hostess for him, getting no objections from ether Minaho or Tennyo...

For his part, Tenchi knew better than to question female decisions...

And so every one had spent the time watching her offer him tea and even hold his cup as he nibbled on the crackers she had also offered him...

 **ALL** the females very quietly enjoyed the expression on Tenchi's face...

Tennyo didn't recall ever seeing his face so red before...

Thou there was that time he got sun burn, having spent too much time on the beach one summer, some years before...

As for Tenchi, he wondered if this was how General George Armstrong Custer had felt when HE found himself surrounded by all those native American Indians several years before...

He sighed, quietly...

At least none of these female's wished him harm...

But Sasami did wonder what Ayeka and Ryoko's reactions would be when THEY found out about all this...

She couldn't help smiling...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Jurai townhouse, London... )**

The Earl looked up at the knock on the door...

" **Yes?...** "

A servant opened the door and entered holding a small silver tray with an envelope on it...

Stepping to the desk he presented it to the Earl...

Taking the envelope, the Earl dismissed the servant...

Then taking a knife like letter opener from his desk, he slit one edge of the sealed envelope...

He then pressed the sides, causing the envelope's open end to pop open...

Turning the open side down, he allowed a folded piece of paper to fall out...

He noted that it was a standard telegraph message form and was addressed to him...

The 'return address' or it's 'point of origin' seem to be East Sumatra, if he was reading the words scribbled in pencil correctly...

This caused him to smile, as there was only one person out that way who would go to all the expense of sending him such a message...

Which seem to consist of one word, in capital letters...

 **EUREKA...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

He had to smile...

It seem that his good friend, Zijlke, had succeeded in his recent little venture...

The Earl had put up some funds and written an introductory letter to the Sultan to help get him started...

But even thou it was known to be a proven area, success wasn't always guaranteed...

He'd seen many a well come up 'dry', even when surrounded by working wells...

But the chance to quietly 'stick it' to the Kagato clan had been the real deciding factor in his decision to back his old friend...

And just as a precaution, by legal agreement, ALL the "rights" to the 'well', 'wet' or 'dry', had been put in the Earl's name...

This was so there would be no profit or reason for any thing happening to his friend...

They were both well aware of who it was they were up against and their reputation for getting even...

They had agreed on this, so his family - his wife and daughters, would be assured of being taken care of, no matter what happen...

Which was the whole reason he was taking the risk...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Perhaps he would drop by the 'club' later and watch for any reactions...

The Adventurer's club was where all the upper crust Lords 'met', to relax, to brag about their latest 'adventure' and to see who could come up with the tallest 'Tale'...

There was always the older lords, more than willing to recount past glories to whatever new, young lord happen to be passing by...

He recalled one lord's tale of being mugged in a Bombay growing over time to a chase across India to not only recover his stolen money, but to rescue a fair maiden...

At least in the special room set aside for that thing, for in the rest of the club speaking was strictly forbidden...

For others the club was a bastion of peace, away from family life, as FEMALES were strictly forbidden within it's walls...

And in it's long history only three had ever managed to get in...

Her majesty Queen Victoria, his wife Lady Jurai ( looking for him ) and his younger sister, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai, just because she had been told she couldn't enter...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

When they were very young, some boys were picking on her and he had stepped in to chase them away...

To which she later beat on him, telling him he should mind his own business...

Their mother's reaction was to have her nurse him back to health the next couple of days...

It was then that he learned that she was quite able to take care of herself...

And she began to learn to restrain her first impulses...

Since then he would just stand back and watched her take on the world...

But also ready to step in, if need be...

And on the bright side, word had it a famous Paris chef was visiting London and might be checking out the Club's kitchen...

They did tend to brag about having the best set table, out side of Buckingham Palace...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

And it was always interesting to see who happen to know what, at such times...

It could give hints as to who might be talking to whom at the moment...

And **THAT** knowledge was always very helpful...

He wondered if her majesty had gotten word about the strike yet...

But then he smiled...

She had surrounded herself with the best...

People who knew what they were talking about and how to get things done...

And they had people around the world, keeping their eyes open...

Reporting back, to London...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

His friend, Lord Fisher, better known as Admiral of the Fleet John Fisher, had recently spent some time asking his opinion of a few things...

As Third Naval Lord and Controller, he tended to look to the future and all the new innovations that were appearing...

Engines that worked much better than the ones the navy was now using were on the drawing boards, as well as were some much more efficient 12 inch guns...

There were going to be a great deal of changes within the next decade or two...

He knew that there were some within the navy who had even suggestions a switch from a solid fuel navy to a liquid fuel one...

The move from coal to oil had many advantages, like a quicker refueling time, as well as safer handling...

The dangers of 'coal dust' was a fact of life in the navy, while oil seem to be safer...

Besides, the German Kaiser, Wilhelm the 1st, had recently given his Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz a free hand to expand and modernize their fleet...

Which would lead to a future confrontation with the Royal Navy for command of the Seas...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( A dimly lite room... )**

As Kagato paced back and forth, several servants lifted the body of the person who had just delivered a telegraph message and then made the mistake of awaited a reply...

He got one, a pistol ball between the eyes...

 _ **Better him than us...**_

Kagato had been expecting the message, but it had caught him in a bad mood...

Her majesty had turn down his kind invite to a large event he was giving in about a week...

He had hoped to be able to see her in favorable surrounding so that he could present a number of possible profitable projects directly to her...

The projects were based in areas that he knew her Majesty was interested...

Pleasant surroundings, his usual charming personality and he was sure he could have convinced her to provide backing for one or more of them...

He just needed to get her away from all those 'advisers' she surrounded herself with...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

The message that the well in the Far East had come in had not been welcome news...

After all, there was about a 45% chance of it being dry...

Or better yet, a blow out of some sort that wrecked all the rented digging equipment...

Leaning on his desk, he took a deep breath...

And then another, very slowly...

Sitting back in his chair he put the tips of his fingers together and considered his options...

There were still those upstarts causing unrest in India...

The colonies were always a place to cause problems for Whitehall...

And with enough problems opportunities tended to appear...

Perhaps he should keep an eye on that new Jurai brat after all...

Now there was a possible opportunity!...

All he had to do was work out how to keep any of it from being connected back to him...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( The Club... )**

There are many males in London who have no wish for the company of their fellow males, yet they were not averse to a comfortable chair, the latest periodical or a very tasty tidbit.

It is commonly believed that it is for the convenience of these males, usually of the upper class, that the **Diogenes Club** was started...

Especially since no member is permitted to take the least notice of any other male within it's walls...

So it wasn't surprise that word had gotten around that it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town.

 _ **( Quite likely very true... )**_

But it was also just one of a number of such 'clubs' that were located in the greater London area...

In fact, some males were members of more than one 'club', allowing for more hideouts for themselves...

More often than not to hide from their own family as well as complete strangers...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

However, the Earl was one of the few to know the true history of the **Diogenes Club**...

In 1874 William Pitt the Younger ( _ **28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806**_ ), son of William Pitt the Older, became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24...

In 1790, with king George the III's support, he and a few trusted lords founded the **Diogenes Club** as the foundation for an information collection organization for making better Foreign affairs and policy decisions...

 _ **( The forerunner of MI6, the British intelligence agency which would supply future British Governments with foreign intelligence... )**_

The 14th Earl had not only been a founding member, but both his sons had been agents in their early years...

However, these days there were far more members to the club than true agents...

But because the members tended to travel the world too, they were also a very good source of information...

These days, the "club" was more of a gathering house for information, rumors and such...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

While most of the members were there for the privacy, talking was only allowed in the special, the Stranger's Room...

In the rest of the club, no talking, under any circumstances, was allowed and offenders were fined...

It was said that one member had to be carried from the building before it was discovered that he was choking...

He was still fined, for disturbing the others...

Another time a robber had gained entrance to try and steal money, but when no one payed him any attention, he ended up screaming...

He was then thrown out, into the street...

A passing bobby ( law officer ) noticed him and helped him stand...

However when a pistol fell out of his pocket, the male was arrested...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London Docks... )**

The latest steamer from America had just finished docking and with the gangplank in place the doors could be opened to disembark passengers...

Above, at the bridge railing, a good number of ships officers were lined up at the railing...

They were hoping to get a final glimpse of their mysterious passenger...

After the doors below opened, a figure dressed in black slowly stepped out, onto the gangplank...

The elderly captain smiled, their exotic female passenger was dresses exactly as she had since coming aboard in New York...

A long black dress that seem to float just off the ground, up to the collar that covered her neck...

A small black hat sat on her head and with that black veil, that not only hid her face, but the very color of her hair as well...

Her arms were covered with long black groves the disappeared at her elbows, under the dress's sleeve ends...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Throughout his years in the military, before retiring to captain this steamer, he had been to his share of funerals and seen many mourning dresses, but none to match this one...

The thin waist and long slender arms only made their passenger even more mysterious...

She had spent most of the trip in her cabin, meals sent there by cabin boy...

The tray would be place on the small table just inside the door and retrieved just outside later...

The only times she left her cabin was after dark, late at night and the last night of the voyage when she accepted the captain's offer to join him at his table for dinner...

The two had sat at his small table at the end of the steamer's small dining room...

The captain had even held her chair for her when she sat and helped her get up afterwards...

His officers were amazed and jealous of him...

Only he was able to hear her very low, but firm voice...

But it was enough...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

During the war, he had met some one...

A most unusual person and for some reason, their passenger reminder him of them...

When the war ended he had lost contact with them, as he had with many other and time moved on...

But he had never forgotten them...

He had just recently been reunited with another face from that time, a man who had been just a boy at the time...

Seem that his son had inherited a title or something and they had traveled across the ocean to get a better idea of what it meant...

The boy had been pleasant, quite well mannered, from his mother's side of the family his father had joked...

Knowing the father's family, he thought it quite likely...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

As he recalled, with a smile, it had been at this very dock that he had last seen his friend disbark...

Before they left the father had turned to face the steamer, look up at him and smiled...

Then he came to attention and raised his right hand to his forehead...

There he touched the middle three fingers to his brow and saluted...

He had smiled and returned the salute, then watched as they disappeared into the crowd...

A motion below caught his attention as the figure in black reached the foot of the gangplank...

Slowly turning around, they looked up at the bridge...

Then they raised their right hand and place their inner three fingers at the brim of their hat...

Smiling, the captain returned the gesture...

As the figure turned, bag in hand and a porter pulling a trunk with wheels behind her, the captain had only one thought...

 _ **I wonder what brings HER over here?...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Masaki manor... )**

Washu smiled, every thing was going well...

She was glad she had fixed that big sandwich for Mihoshi before checking to see who their guest were...

She just hoped that the 2nd one would keep her in the kitchen...

The last thing they needed was her to show up...

She didn't want to even guess at what might happen...

So no one in the library notice the door open until a low, firm voice spoke up...

" **And exactly what is going on here?...** "

Every one looked towards the open door...

There stood Ayeka and Ryoka, little Ryo-Oko behind them...

Both of the older girl didn't seem to be too happy at the moment...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **To be continued...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


	9. Chapter 9

**Little Lord Tenchi...**

Author: Daferge

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of AIC and Pioneer. I have neither created them, nor do I own them.

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **chapter -09 ... Royalties...**

 **( Masaki manson... )**

Washu smiled, every thing was going well...

She was glad she had fixed that big sandwich for Mihoshi before checking to see who their guest were...

She just hoped that the 2nd one was keeping her in the kitchen...

The last thing they needed was her to show up...

She didn't want to even guess at what might happen...

So no one in the library notice the door open until a low, firm voice spoke up...

" **And exactly what is going on here?...** "

Every one looked towards the open door...

There stood Ayeka and Ryoko, little Ryo-Oki behind them...

Both of the older girl didn't look too happy at the moment...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Every one in the library looked at the two females standing in the door way...

A both door to the room were open, the two were now standing side by side...

Where as they both had upset expressions on their faces, every body else was smiling...

The first to react was the young lord, who sighed, handed his empty cup to Sasami and stood...

As every one, including the new comers watched, he walked over to stand at the door...

Facing the two he smiled...

" **Ahh... It's so good you could make it... I believe you know every one?...** "

Turning around, he offered each an arm...

Everyone smiled as both Ayeka and Ryoko quickly stepped into the room and took an arm...

He then proceeded to escort them across the room to two chairs over there...

Standing between the two, he held their hands as they seated themselves...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

" **Did I miss any thing?...** "

All eyes turn to the open doors and the figure standing there...

Standing next to him was a sleepy blonde female wearing a nightgown...

" **I found this charming young lady wandering the hall and we followed the voices back here...** "

Unlike Tenchi, his father still had work to do, designs to finish for back in the states...

He'd been working the whole trip over and when he arrived, Washu had a work area ready for him, as requested through the lawyer...

He had missed the big get-to-gether meal for several reasons...

First, because it was Tenchi's time and he didn't want to spoil it...

Second, his brain was crammed with ideas from all he'd seen since getting off the boat and on the trip up to the estate...

He had to get as much as possible down on paper while it was fresh...

Tenchi and the girls understood...

Washu had too, having a tray and a large mug of 'coffee' sent up to his 'studio'...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Before calling it a night, she and Minaho checked on him, finding him asleep at his desk, on top of sheets of drawings...

When Washu suggested they move him to his bed nearby, Minaho chuckled and said that he spent half his time like that...

Before leaving they put a blanket over him...

As she tucked it in, Minaho leaned over, kissed his up turned cheek and whispered softly...

" **Good night, dear...** "

As she joined Washu at the door, a low voice replied...

" **Nite, Kiyone...** "

Washu smiled as Minaho brushed something from the corner of her eye...

Shortly the two were headed down the hall, back to their rooms...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London, the club... )**

When the Earl entered the front door, the man there took his hat and coat before handing him a number of cards...

The small cards had names and such printed on one side, of people who wish to speak to him on one matter or another...

Some had short notes on the other side, while others were blank, those being people just keeping in touch with him...

Sort of like a greeting as they pass each other on the sidewalk...

However one card had no name, no writing on it...

All it had was a coat-of-arms on it, that of the Queen...

It seem that some one from the palace was waiting him in the special room...

As he headed to the special room a waiter stepped up holding a tray, on it his usual...

Some thing told him he was going to need it...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Train Station, Nottingham... )**

After the train came to complete stop, a dark figure stepped down the stairs...

A porter followed with a large trunk on wheels...

They stood there a while before crossing the boardwalk to where a number of carriages were waiting...

As they approached the chatting drivers, one of them broke away and met the figure...

It was quite obvious from their dress that the figure were female, but a dark veil hid their face...

Smiling, the driver removed their cap and shook out their hair, allowing their hair to fall to their neck, letting the possible ride know they were female too...

The figure nodded their head and held out a card...

It was one of the Earl of Jurai's cards, with his name, title and ' **Jurai Estate** '...

The young driver spoke up, even if it might lose a ride...

" **If it's the Earl you're wantin', I'm afraid he went down to London the other day with a good part of his staff... Usually indicated he'll be there a while...** "

The figure used their other hand to point to the estate part on the card...

Seeing that, the driver led their passenger to their rig...

Several of the other drivers helped get the trunk on the back...

And they were away...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( London... )**

Lord Kagato looked at the note, scribbled in pencil...

One thing the upper classes had was an ability to write legibly or at least to a degree where he didn't have to spend a good deal of time trying to decode a simple message...

This one was from a low-life watching a building where the upper class gathered, including the Earl...

Kagato had been a member before he got caught breaking a rule, trying to over hear a conversation between two other members in the special room...

He had been quietly asked to leave and not return...

What little he had heard had cost him, but he had been able to put it to good use...

However, he had not forgotten or forgiven those who had embarrassed him...

And any get-even list he created would have the Earl's name at the top...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

This low-life was able to get into place even a rat would have trouble...

As such, he was at a ventilation vent when the Earl arrived and was handed a stack of cards...

He wasn't able to write well, but his memory served him well...

And having learned what the cards were and how they were used, just seeing them could provide useful information...

How many, gave an idea of important he was, at the moment...

The number with notes, suggested the possible exchange of data...

And then there was a rare card, like one with a coat-of-arms on it, for only the crown used those...

In all likelihood contact between the Earl and the throne...

Topic?...

The new oil field the Earl recently acquired on the other side of the world was a good possibility...

And all from from observing a stack of paper cards...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Nottingham... )**

Kiriko Masaki was escorting young Seina Yamada down the sidewalk carefully...

Trying to avoid any groups of people along the way...

It was still early and there were few people on the streets, most locals were at work...

It was the evenings when people went out to do things...

She had arranged to meet some friends at a local eatery and it was just ahead...

So far there had only been a few minor incidents, people bumping into each other and such...

With Seina's luck, that was common place...

She smiled as she saw her friends sitting out side the eatery...

It was then that "luck" left them...

Seina stepped on some small stones and tripped, falling forward...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

It happen so fast Kiriko didn't have a chance to catch him...

Seina flew across the short distance and into a chair at the eatery...

The problem was that the chair was still occupied at the time, by a very attractive young female...

Stunned, it took Seina a moment to discover what had happen and why every thing was suddenly very dark...

It seem that his face was buried in her 'cleavage' or at least the good deal of silks and lace that tended to covered that area...

When Kiriko arrived, she was surprised that the female in question was one of the two friends she'd come here to meet...

While the blonde haired Amane Kaunaq was trying her best not to laugh, her dark haired friend, Ryoko Balta's was not sure how to react to this...

Seeing Kiriko rushing up told them that this had to be the young male with the unusual luck...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

As they were both well know 'Actresses', they both had their share of males trying to get their attention, but this was something new...

Ryoko wasn't sure if the time it was taking to remove his face was accidental or was actually intentional...

And for some reason she kind of liked the idea that it was intentional...

Her friend Amane was having similar thoughts and also wishing she had been the one involved...

Both were of a like mind about if this HAD been intentional, from his innocent act, he could have a fantastic career on the stage...

Managing to recover his balance and stand back up, he was just able to avoid a tongue lashing from Kiriko...

Not daring to speak yet, she just pointed to an empty chair on the other side of a small table from the two females...

Only when he was seated did she dare sit herself...

Seated she took a deep breath and sighed...

 _ **Well, THAT could have gone better...**_

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( the Earl's townhouse... )**

The trip to the club had indeed been worth it...

Along with the usual rumors and such, Her Majesty had made contact...

She had been avoiding making contact, in case she was called upon to make a ruling on the case...

However, it seem his heir was only part of it...

It seem they were interested in his possible future plans for his new acquisition, the oil well...

Her majesty would be happy to hear that his plans had put them at the top of his list...

Certain members of the military would be happy too...

But then there was the other message...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Ever since the first transatlantic cable had gone into service over 40 years before, relations with the new world had greatly improved...

Since the 1700s, an Earl had been involved in some small bit in the London stock market...

Now they could follow the american one too...

Unlike some of his ancestors, he hadn't gotten too involved with ether, his lawyer handled all that...

Then after Lady Washu joined the household, she was given control of all that...

Since then the estate was supported more by her investments than the tenants working the land...

This allowed for better land management and a great improvement in the condition of the estate in general...

As it turned out, Washu had become involved with the american inventor Thomas Alva Edison and it was her improved generators that were 'lighting' up many of the Eastern cities...

And like many other things, the patents for them were in the Earl's name...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Though he knew of the generators and patents, he had been unaware of just how much they seem to now effected the Americans...

A coded diplomatic message from the American president - one Stephen Grover Cleveland - had inquired into his recent 'heir' problem...

As it was, whoever inherited the position would be thrust in a position of very great power...

There were other steps which could be taken to remove outside influence, but they would tend to effect relations between the two powers...

And that was some thing that nether side wished...

Then there was the fact that while the new 'heir ' was considered British by blood, he was American by birth and as such the president requested an eye be kept on his welfare...

Her majesty had sent a reply that no matter where he was born, upon his assuming the tile of 'heir' they could rest assure that the entire weight of the empire would be brought to protect him...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( Buckingham Palace... )**

The queen was looking over a report that had just arrived from immigration...

It seem that an individual had passed through london docks using a diplomatic passport...

However, do to need to type of passport, no one there was even sure if the person was male or female...

An inquiry at the American embassy only indicated that they had gotten no advance notice of any one of importance coming or had they made themselves know to them...

A coded telegram to the American president returned a " **thank you** " from the president's wife for letting them know that the 'person in question' had arrived safely...

Nothing else...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Finally a report arrived that an individual who might fit the mysterious visitor had caught the train north, having acquired a ticket to Newcastle, but getting off in Nottingham...

An inquiry by the local sheriff had produced the individual's destination...

The estate of the Earl of Jurai...

Her majesty smiled...

She would make some inquires of her own later...

It had been a while since she had last spoke with Lady Washu Hakubi...

If need be,

Besides, all this unusual interest in the young heir had raised her interest, also...

It wouldn't be all that difficult to arrange a little excursion...

It would be nice to get out of the palace for a while...

The only question was if they would give advance notice or just show up on the door step, again...

The answer to that was easy and she chuckled...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **( the Jurai Estate... )**

For some time the conversation in the library had been mostly general...

Lady Minaho getting reacquainted with family and others, such as Ayeka, Ryoko and Sasami being introduced to an important member of the family they'd only heard of before...

One of the first things she asked was that no one tell her father, the Earl, that she was back - yet...

Every one understood...

About this time Washu announced the a small lunch would be served in the main hall and asked if any one needed to freshen up before hand?...

All eyes turn to the young blonde sitting over to the side, who was looking through a book of wood cut drawings from around the world...

" **Mihoshi?...** "

Washu sighed as she tried to get her attention...

Looking up, Mihoshi saw that every one was looking at her and she quickly closed the book and set it back on the table where she'd found it...

" **I'm sorry... I know I should have asked first... But the pictures were-** "

She stopped as she noticed Tenchi stand before her, smiling..

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Tenchi had stood as Washu was making her announcement and when Mihoshi became the center of attention, he quietly walked over to stand near her...

As she began to get nervous and reply, he had held up his hand, stopping her...

" **Isn't that what books are for?...** "

Washu smiled as Mihoshi suddenly got a dreamy look in her eyes...

She also noted the stern looks other females were now giving her...

Mihoshi almost floated into the air as lord Tenchi took her hand and she stood...

" **Washu, could you have some one escort mz. Kuramitsu to her room so she can change before we gather to eat?...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

Washu watched Mihoshi almost float out the door as Tenchi surrendered Mihoshi's hand to one of the maids...

As the maid lead her out the door, Mihoshi never stopped smiling and looking back at Tenchi...

Washu took note of all the different smiling faces in the room and the two that appeared to be upset for some reason...

Shortly after Mihoshi disappeared to the left, another maid appeared from the right, a dark figure behind them...

Stepping just inside the door, the maid spoke softly...

" **Ma, Lord?... There is is a visitor here to see a mr. Masaki...** "

Washu stepped forward and spoke up...

" **You must mean, LORD Masaki!...** "

However a voice from the back of the room spoke up...

" **I think she's referring to me, mz. Washu...** "

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

All eyes turned to the only other male in the room...

Tenchi's father, Nobuyuki Masaki, was standing there smiling and drinking from a small cup...

He chuckled slightly as he held the cup out and one of the maids refilled it...

As the dark figure entered the room, every one could see that it was a female and dressed in black, as if in moaning, veil and all...

There was something about this figure that Washu could not explain...

But before she could inquire, Nobuyuki spoke again...

" **Been a while... What brings you across the water?...** "

Raising a hand the female lifted the veil, revealing a beautiful face with dark eyes and a wicked smile...

It was Washu who broke the silence...

" **You know this female, lord Masaki?...** "

He sighed, he'd asked her to call him Nobie, as others did, but she insisted...

" **It's been some time, but I should be able to recognize Noike Sakatsu, my dearest older sister...** "

This caused a number of jaws to drop...

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **To be continued...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**

 **Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...**

 **. . . . . . . . . .**


End file.
